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Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
Europe characterised by semi-circular
arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...
es. The term "Romanesque" is usually used for the period from the 10th to the 12th century with "
Pre-Romanesque Pre-Romanesque art and architecture is the period in European art from either the emergence of the Merovingian kingdom in about 500 AD or from the Carolingian Renaissance in the late 8th century, to the beginning of the 11th century Romanesqu ...
" and "
First Romanesque One of the first streams of Romanesque architecture in Europe from the 10th century and the beginning of 11th century is called First Romanesque or Lombard Romanesque. It took place in the region of Lombardy (at that time the term encompassing ...
" being applied to earlier buildings with Romanesque characteristics.
Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this lat ...
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 term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used fo ...
. 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 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 ...
, 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 Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and
Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
. Examples of purely domestic architecture include the
great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...
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 History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
in the article cited above.


Origins

Romanesque architecture was the first distinctive style to spread across Europe since the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
.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 The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
in the 10th century.


Politics and religion

The Romanesque period was a time of frequent conflict. Much of Europe was affected by
feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
in which peasants held tenure from local rulers over the land that they farmed in exchange for
military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a ...
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, Duke of Normandy William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...
, 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 Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...
. 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 San Gimignano () is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of ...
in
Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
.Rolf Toman, pp. 114–117 In Germany, the
Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
s built a number of residences both castles and palaces, at strategic points and on trade routes. The Imperial Palace of
Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...
(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 Gelnhausen () is a town, and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig. It is one of ...
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 Besalú () is a town in the ''comarca'' of Garrotxa, in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The town's importance was greater in the early Middle Ages, as capital of the county of Besalú, whose territory was roughly the same size as the current ''comarca' ...
,
Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
, the 11th-century Puente de la Reina,
Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
and the Pont-Saint-Bénézet,
Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...
. 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 Benedict may refer to: People Names *Benedict (given name), including a list of people with the given name *Benedict (surname), including a list of people with the surname Religious figures *Pope Benedict I (died 579), head of the Catholic Chur ...
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 A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...
, domestic quarters and other buildings associated with community living such as hospitals, barns, and forges. The
Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
, 1095–1270, which were intended to wrest the Holy Places of Palestine from
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic 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. File:London Tower (1).JPG, alt=A huge square tower of grey stone is seen beyond fortifications on the edge of a river., The
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
, (1078).
William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
built the central White Tower as his stronghold and residence. File:Great Hall, Oakham Castle - geograph.org.uk - 92787.jpg, alt=A tidy building like a large barn, of red brick with long sloping roofs, dormer windows and a low arched doorway., The Great Hall of
Oakham Castle Oakham Castle is a historic building in Oakham, Rutland. The Castle is known for its collection of massive horseshoes and is also recognised as one of the best examples of domestic Norman architecture in England. It is a Grade I listed building ...
, England, once part of the fortified manor of a Norman
baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
. File:Krak des chevaliers15(js).jpg, alt=An enormous castle with encircling walls, on a rise in barren country with distant mountains., Crusader castle,
Krak des Chevaliers Krak des Chevaliers, ar, قلعة الحصن, Qalʿat al-Ḥiṣn also called Hisn al-Akrad ( ar, حصن الأكراد, Ḥiṣn al-Akrād, rtl=yes, ) and formerly Crac de l'Ospital; Krak des Chevaliers or Crac des Chevaliers (), is a medieva ...
,
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, was mainly constructed in this period, with the outer walls being later. File:San Gimignano.JPG, alt=View of a small town on a hilltop surrounded by trees and vineyards. There are eight tall square towers rising from among the densely packed houses., Many towns, such as
San Gimignano San Gimignano () is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of ...
, were enclosed with walls, causing crowding and the building of tower houses.


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. 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 Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
masonry was used where easily worked limestone was available. 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. File:Maison romane montoise adjusted.JPG, Irregularly shaped hewn blocks and thick mortar at a town house, in
Mont-de-Marsan Mont-de-Marsan (; Occitan: ''Lo Mont de Marçan'') is a commune and capital of the Landes department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Population Military installations The French Air and Space Force operates the ''Constantin Rozan ...
. This house has a jettied upper floor supported on stone corbels. File:The Keep - geograph.org.uk - 192403.jpg, Limestone ashlar masonry in even courses at
Scarborough Castle Scarborough Castle is a former medieval Royal fortress situated on a rocky promontory overlooking the North Sea and Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. The site of the castle, encompassing the Iron Age settlement, Roman signal station, an Ang ...
. The buttresses of low profile are characteristic of Romanesque building. File:Poreč068.jpg, This house at
Poreč Poreč (; it, Parenzo; la, Parens or ; grc, Πάρενθος, Párenthos) is a town and municipality on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, in Istria County, west Croatia. Its major landmark is the 6th-century Euphrasian Basilica, whic ...
,
Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...
, has a reconstructed cantilevered wooden walkway, paired windows and the string course that were common features. File:Münzenberg Fenster.jpg, Münzenberg Palace has walls of rubble but refined detailing in its windows, the triple arch of the door and the gallery seen beyond which opens onto a vista.


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 (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
where
Norman architecture The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used fo ...
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
pier image:Brighton Pier, Brighton, East Sussex, England-2Oct2011 (1).jpg, Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century. A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of ...
s. 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. File:Rochester Castle Interior.JPG, The interior of Rochester Castle, showing galleries in the interior walls and an arcade dividing the great hall. File:San gimignano piazza duomo loggia 01.JPG,
San Gimignano San Gimignano () is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of ...
: the loggia on Piazza Duomo. File:Como Broletto HDR.JPG, The
Broletto In Middle Age Communes in Italy, a broletto was the place where the whole population met for democratic assemblies, and where the elected men lived and administered justice. ''Broletto'' is an ancient Italian word, from medieval Latin "broilum, bro ...
at
Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...
has series of arcades, the outer with polychrome
voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...
s, supporting a timber roof on brackets. File:Palazzo della ragione di Padova 11.jpg, The
groin vault A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: L ...
of the upper arcade at the
Palazzo della Ragione, Padua The Palazzo della Ragione is a medieval market hall, town hall and palace of justice building in Padua, in the Veneto region of Italy. The upper floor was dedicated to the town and justice administration; while the ground floor still hosts the hi ...
.


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 A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...
or
groin vault A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: L ...
. 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 A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic a ...
, 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
archivolt An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, corresponding to the ...
s 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
mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
s 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 Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ar ...
. File:Castillo de Loarre - Entrada - Bóveda.jpg, Barrel vault at
Loarre Castle The Castle of Loarre is a Romanesque Castle and Abbey located near the town of the same name, Huesca Province in the Aragon autonomous region of Spain. It is one of the oldest castles in Spain. History The castle was built largely during t ...
, Spain. File:Chapel inside Castle Keep.jpg, Ribbed vault at Newcastle Castle, England. File:Colchester Castle front door.JPG, The portal of
Colchester Castle Colchester Castle is a Norman castle in Colchester, Essex, England, dating from the second half of the eleventh century. The keep of the castle is mostly intact and is the largest example of its kind anywhere in Europe, due to its being built ...
, England. File:Le Thoronet armarium.jpg, A door in the Abbey of Thoronet, France. File:Fenêtre romane.jpg, A brick window with carved capital in the Jardin des Plantes of Toulouse, France.
File:Abbaye de Silvacane - galerie nord 06.JPG, A cloister window at
Silvacane Abbey Silvacane Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in the municipality of La Roque-d'Anthéron, Bouches-du-Rhône, in Provence, France. It was founded in or around 1144 as a daughter house of Morimond Abbey and was dissolved in 1443; it ceased to b ...
, France. File:Sant-Guilhem-6-claustre.jpg, A window at
Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert ( or ; oc, Sant Guilhèm dau Desèrt) is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Situated where the Gellone river's narrow valley meets the steep-sided gorge of the river Hérau ...
, France. File:Main stairway, Castle Rising Keep - geograph.org.uk - 779981.jpg, The stairs of
Castle Rising Castle Rising is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is situated some north-east of the town of King's Lynn and west of the city of Norwich. The River Babingley skirts the north of the village separating C ...
keep, England. File:Cluny - Hôtel des Monnaies - chimney.JPG, The chimney of Hôtel des Monnaies,
Cluny Cluny () is a commune in the eastern French department of Saône-et-Loire, in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is northwest of Mâcon. The town grew up around the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in 9 ...
, France


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
chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * ''Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock lay ...
s. 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 A Lombard band is a decorative blind arcade, usually located on the exterior of building. It was frequently used during the Romanesque and Gothic periods of Western architecture. It resembles a frieze of arches. Lombard bands are believed to ha ...
which is a row of small arches that appear to support a roofline. File:Villemagne-l'Argentiere monnaies-fenetre 02.JPG, Details of the windows of a house in Villemagne l'Argentiere, France, showing
chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * ''Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock lay ...
ing and carved capitals. File:Villemagne l'Argentiere linteau.jpg, The delicately carved
lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
of the same house. The picture also reveals the derelict state of this rare building (2006). File:Estella-Lizarra, Palacio de los Reyes de Navarra 03.JPG, A capital depicting the fight of
Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...
and
Ferragut Ferragut (also known as Ferragus, Ferracutus, Ferracute, Ferrakut, Ferraguto, Ferraù, Fernagu) was a character—a Saracen paladin, sometimes depicted as a giant—in texts dealing with the Matter of France, including the '' Historia Caroli Mag ...
on the Palacio de los Reyes de Navarra in
Estella Estella may refer to: People * Diego de Estella (1524–1578) * Estella Sneider (born 1950) *Estella Warren (born 1978), Canadian actress *Estella, the ''nom de guerre'' of Italian labor leader Teresa Noce Fictional *Estella Havisham, a charact ...
, Spain. File:AdamEve detail.jpg, Carving of
Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...
on the
mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
of a window at the House of the Vicomte of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val,
Tarn-et-Garonne Tarn-et-Garonne (; oc, Tarn e Garona ) is a department in the Occitania region in Southern France. It is traversed by the rivers Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its name. The area was originally part of the former provinces of Quercy and ...
.


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. 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 The paintings from Arlanza are a set of frescos belonging to the mural decoration of a Benedictine monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza, in the Province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain, dating to around 1210, and now dispersed among a number o ...
in Spain, which are now dispersed to museums in
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
and America. These
frescos Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
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 Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...
and illuminated
bestiaries A bestiary (from ''bestiarum vocabulum'') is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history a ...
. 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 Bayeux Cathedral, also known as Cathedral of Our Lady of Bayeux ( French: ''Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux''), is a Roman Catholic church located in the town of Bayeux in Normandy, France. A national monument, it is the seat of the Bishop of B ...
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 The Cloth of St Gereon is a mural tapestry of a repeat pattern with a decorative motif of a bull being attacked by a griffin, a fantastic creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.Thomson, p. 52 "There is a tendency to at ...
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.


Monastic buildings

Within the Catholic tradition, communal
monasticism Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important role ...
was established by
Saint Benedict Benedict of Nursia ( la, Benedictus Nursiae; it, Benedetto da Norcia; 2 March AD 480 – 21 March AD 548) was an Christianity in Italy, Italian Christian monk, writer, and theologian who is venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Ortho ...
at
Monte Cassino Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first h ...
around 529. It was encouraged by
Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
with an increasing number of monasteries being founded across Europe in the late Middle Ages. The most influential orders during that period were the
Benedictines , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
, the
Cluniacs The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began wit ...
founded at Cluny in 910, and then the
Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
founded in 1098.
Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. ( la, Bernardus Claraevallensis; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templars, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order through ...
entered the Cistercian Order in 1113 and, as its leader, founded more than five hundred monasteries of austere design and often in remote locations.Toman, pp. 68–69 The Carolingian
Plan of Saint Gall The Plan of Saint Gall is a medieval architectural drawing of a monastic compound dating from 820–830 AD. It depicts an entire Benedictine monastic compound, including churches, houses, stables, kitchens, workshops, brewery, infirmary, and a ...
dating from the early 9th century is a detailed draught of an abbey church and its accompanying monastic buildings, the oldest such architectural plan to exist since Roman times. It shows an idealised arrangement with individual cells for monks, workshops, amenities, gardens, stables and a school. It constitutes a living space for a completely self-sufficient community.Toman pp. 33–35 Natural constraints such as the building site, the close proximity of town buildings, and lack of funds meant that in practice few monasteries were so lavishly constructed during the Romanesque period. From the 10th century, the great
Abbey of Cluny Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saint Peter. The abbey was constructed in the Romanesque architectural style, with three churches ...
set a standard of building and amenities that was to be emulated by others. The surviving domestic and utility buildings of monastic complexes are in general set apart from the surviving dwellings of the common laity by the quality of both structure and detail. Although built for the communal living of lives vowed to poverty and simplicity, monastic buildings are in general solidly constructed and finely finished with vaulted ceilings, mouldings, columns and carvings that are directly related to the forms found in monastic churches, while the cloisters that formed the nucleus of monastic life are frequently masterpieces of Romanesque construction, style and ornament. File:Abbey-of-senanque-provence-gordes.jpg, The Romanesque
Sénanque Abbey Sénanque Abbey (Occitan: ''abadiá de Senhanca'', French: ''Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque'') is a Cistercian abbey near the village of Gordes in the ''département'' of the Vaucluse in Provence, France. First foundation It was founded in 114 ...
church and surrounding monastic buildings,
Gordes Gordes (; oc, Gòrda) is a commune in the Vaucluse département in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. The residents are known as ''Gordiens.'' The nearest big city is Avignon; smaller cities nearby include Cavaillo ...
, France. File:Lorsch.jpg, The Carolingian gatehouse of
Lorsch Abbey Lorsch Abbey, otherwise the Imperial Abbey of Lorsch (german: Reichsabtei Lorsch; la, Laureshamense Monasterium or ''Laurissa''), is a former Imperial abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about east of Worms. It was one of the most renowned monasteries o ...
, Germany. File:Abbaye de Longuay 4.jpg, The Lay Brothers' Hall, Longuay Abbey,
Aubepierre-sur-Aube Aubepierre-sur-Aube (, literally ''Aubepierre on Aube'') is a commune in the Haute-Marne department in the Grand Est region in northeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Haute-Marne department The following is a list of the 42 ...
, France. File:Garden of the Monastery Unser Lieben Frauen Magdeburg.jpg, Cloister and well-house of the monastery Unser Lieben Frauen,
Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...
, Germany.


Types of buildings

In general, the main living and working quarters of any monastery were the
cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...
s, four arcaded passages that surrounded a courtyard and were located, wherever possible, adjacent to and on the southern (sunniest) side of the church. The arcades at ground level were the monk's working and general living space, containing carrels for study and writing, and often along one range, a "lavatorium" where the monks could wash their hands and faces before eating. Above the arcades ran long dormitories where the monks slept. Where such buildings still exist from the Romanesque period, they are built of stone, although at the majority of early monasteries, they were probably of wooden construction. Monastic buildings generally became increasingly comfortable and more robust over time, with stone replacing wood, open arcades being glazed against the wind and open dormitories being fitted with wooden screens for warmth and privacy.Crossley, pp. 67–71 A number of buildings surrounded and abutted the cloister. The chapter house was the most significant, as the meeting place of the governing body of the abbey. It generally projected from the eastern side of the cloister, and might have near it a narrow passage or "slype" that led to a burial ground near the eastern end of the church. Also off the cloister arcade was a
calefactory The calefactory (also ''warming house'') was an important room or building in a medieval monastery in Western Europe. It was here that a communal fire was kept so that the monks could warm themselves after long hours of study in the (unheated) c ...
or "warming room" where a fire burnt during the winter. It was generally located under part of the dormitory. A staircase often descended from the dormitory directly into a transept of the church, and was used by the monks at night. Projecting from the dormitory was the "necessarium" or toilet block, with a drain running beneath the toilets. An important building of which a number of examples have survived was the
refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the La ...
or dining hall. Adjacent to the refectory were the monastic kitchens, with their proximity to the cloister being determined by whether the cooking was done by the brethren of the monastery or by lay employees.Crossley, pp. 71–75 Set apart from the cloister was the
infirmary Infirmary may refer to: *Historically, a hospital, especially a small hospital *A first aid room in a school, prison, or other institution *A dispensary (an office that dispenses medications) *A clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambu ...
for the treatment of the sick, and where elderly frail members of the monastic community could be cared for. This was generally a large hall but might constitute a whole separate complex with its own chapel, kitchen and courtyard. A separate dining chamber known as the "misericord" was often attached to the infirmary, so that sick and infirm aged brothers could benefit by eating red meat, something not permitted in the refectory. Early in the establishment of monasteries, it was expected that the abbot or prior would live in the dormitory, in communion with the other monks. As the role of abbot became increasingly that of a business manager and entrepreneur, this humble living style was abandoned, and separate houses were built, outside the cloister. Other buildings commonly occurring within monastic precinct include bakehouses, breweries, granaries, well houses, forges, barns and dovecotes.Crossley, pp. 76–77 Guest houses were often built for travellers, and alms houses for the care of the poor. Schools were also found in association with monasteries. Many monasteries had a gatehouse where a member of the laity lived and guarded the monastic precinct. File:Fontenay34.jpg, The dormitory at
Fontenay Abbey The Abbey of Fontenay is a former Cistercian abbey located in the Communes in France, commune of Marmagne, Côte-d'Or, Marmagne, near Montbard, in the départements of France, département of Côte-d'Or in France. It was founded by Saint Bernard ...
, France. Present roof, early 1500s. File:Vaucelles salles des moines.JPG, The Monk's Hall, Vaucelles Abbey,
Les Rues-des-Vignes Les Rues-des-Vignes (; called ''Vinchy'' in the Middle Ages) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Vinchy was the site of a famous battle of the then-rising Charles Martel in spring 717. See also *Communes of the Nord departmen ...
, France. File:Sant Michel de Grandmont 3.jpg, The monks' stairs at Saint-Michel de Grandmont Priory, Saint-Privat, France. File:Abbaye de Fontenay-Forge.jpg, The forge at
Fontenay Abbey The Abbey of Fontenay is a former Cistercian abbey located in the Communes in France, commune of Marmagne, Côte-d'Or, Marmagne, near Montbard, in the départements of France, département of Côte-d'Or in France. It was founded by Saint Bernard ...
, France.


Examples

Monastic complexes often developed over several centuries, with buildings of different dates abutting each other, and individual buildings being enlarged and altered in later architectural periods. Apart from churches (which are dealt with in a separate article), large Romanesque buildings are rare, even within the context of ancient monasteries. However, a number of fine examples exist, scattered across Europe, with
Sénanque Abbey Sénanque Abbey (Occitan: ''abadiá de Senhanca'', French: ''Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque'') is a Cistercian abbey near the village of Gordes in the ''département'' of the Vaucluse in Provence, France. First foundation It was founded in 114 ...
, consecrated in 1178, being a rare survival that has retained many of its original Romanesque buildings intact, including the church, cloister, dormitory, calefactory and chapter house. The monastery of St
Martin-du-Canigou The abbey of Saint-Martin-du-Canigou (Catalan: ''Sant Martí del Canigó'') is a monastery built in 1009 in the Pyrenees of Northern Catalonia on Canigou mountain in present-day southern near the Spanish border. Pau Casals wrote a composition e ...
, founded 1005, has also retained its original form and some of its original domestic buildings, although damaged, both by earthquake and over-zealous restoration. At
Maulbronn Maulbronn () is a city in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. History Founded in 1838, it emerged from a settlement, built around a monastery, which belonged to the Neckar Community in the Kingdom of Württemberg. In ...
in Germany the medieval monastery has remained virtually intact, but typically the buildings vary in date, with the earliest being Romanesque of the late 12th century. The
Abbey of Fontenay The Abbey of Fontenay is a former Cistercian abbey located in the commune of Marmagne, near Montbard, in the département of Côte-d'Or in France. It was founded by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in 1118, and built in the Romanesque style Romane ...
has retained a number of important buildings including the monks' dormitory, the monks' hall, the
scriptorium Scriptorium (), literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the writing, copying and illuminating of manuscripts commonly handled by monastic scribes. However, lay scribes and ...
and a large
forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...
. At
Lorsch Lorsch is a town in the Bergstraße district in Hessen, Germany, 60 km south of Frankfurt. Lorsch is well known for the Lorsch Abbey, which has been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Geography Location Lorsch lies about 5 km wes ...
in Germany and at
Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...
in England remain two impressive gatehouses of very different styles. The Lorsch Abbey gatehouse led into a complex the form of which can now only be determined by archaeology. The gatehouse itself dates from 774 and combines a number of features from Classical Antiquity such as
Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...
columns and the
triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...
motif with Northern European vernacular in the triangulation of the "arches" of the upper story and the steeply pitched roof, and Byzantine ornament in the polychrome surface decoration. The Norman Tower at Bury St Edmunds was built by Abbott Anselm in the second quarter of the 11th century as the main entrance to the monastery from the town. It rises in four stages of different heights, with a single arched portal and groups of three openings of varied design on the upper levels, between flattened corner buttresses. Romanesque cloisters remain at many ancient monasteries, particularly in France, Spain and Italy. They vary from simple structures with wooden trussed roofs or groin vaults and arcades supported on stout piers as at St Milchael's, Hildesheim, to elegant ribbed-vaults and arcades filled with plate tracery like those at the
Cathedral of Tarragona The Cathedral of Tarragona is a Roman Catholic church in Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. The edifice is located in a site previously occupied by a Roman temple dating to the time of Tiberius, a Visigothic cathedral, and a Moorish mosque. It was dec ...
, Spain, and supported on highly decorated paired columns with figurative capitals like those at St Pierre, Moissac, France and St John Laterano, Rome. The cloisters sometimes retain an upper arcade which gave access to dormitories or cells, as at the Cathedral St. Léonce and the monastery of
Santo Domingo de Silos Santo Domingo de Silos is a municipality and town located in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census ( INE), the municipality had a population of 292 inhabitants. The village is preserved by the heritage l ...
in
Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...
. Of the various chambers that abutted the cloisters, those on the ground floor often had groin or ribbed vaults like those found in the scriptorium at Fontenay. Where large buildings such as the forge at Fontenay have survived, they take the form of barn-like halls with flattened buttresses and small round-headed windows. Cloisters often contained a well. At Unser Lieben Frauen in Magdeburg, Germany, there is an elaborate well-house in the cloister, while a ruined example exists at Mellifont Abbey. File:Stift Millstatt Kreuzgang Hof 01.JPG, The cloisters at
Millstatt Abbey Millstatt Abbey (german: Stift Millstatt) is a former monastery in Millstatt, Austria. Established by Benedictine monks about 1070, it ranks among the most important Romanesque buildings in the state of Carinthia. The Benedictines were succeeded b ...
, Austria have alternating piers and openings. File:Burgos claustro Silos 27 lou.jpg, The
Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey ( es, Abadía del Monasterio de Santo Domingo de Silos) is a Benedictine monastery in the village of Santo Domingo de Silos in the southern part of Burgos Province in northern Spain. The monastery is named after the ...
, Spain, has an upper arcade for access. File:Moissac 1.jpg, The cloisters at the St Pierre Abbey, Moissac, France are renowned for their carved capitals. File:Rom Lateran Kreuzgang 05.jpg,
Cosmatesque Cosmatesque, or Cosmati, is a style of geometric decorative inlay stonework typical of the architecture of Medieval Italy, and especially of Rome and its surroundings. It was used most extensively for the decoration of church floors, but was also u ...
style in action: twisted columns and mosaics at the cloister in
San Giovanni in Laterano The Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran ( it, Arcibasilica del Santissimo Salvatore e dei Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano), also known as the Papa ...
,
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
.


Fortified buildings

The castle represents, overwhelmingly, the type of domestic architecture for which there is the greatest number of surviving examples in the Romanesque style. There also exist a range of domestic buildings associated with monastic precincts, palaces, civic buildings and town houses.


Keeps

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 developed from wooden
palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...
s, built for defense, or from
motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...
s where an earth mound, usually artificial, was surmounted by a tall wooden structure and often surrounded by ditches. This latter system of defense was further developed with the addition of outer palisades enclosing a bailey in which domestic buildings were constructed. From about 1000 onwards the wooden building on the motte was replaced with a ''donjon'' (stone
keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
), the earliest of which is believed to have been at Doue-la-Fontaine,
Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indre-e ...
, France, built in about 950.Rolf Toman, pp. 499–451 Judging from the size of the openings to be found in the lower stories, the earliest tall stone buildings appear to have served chiefly as residences. However, with necessity, they developed an increasing number of defensive features. Many such castles were to be erected by the Norman invaders of England. Although a number of 12th-century keeps such as those of
Houdan Houdan () is a commune of the Yvelines department west of Paris in the north of France. History The name has evolved from the Saxon "Hoding," meaning "settlement on the hill". Houdan is thought to have been inhabited since the 5th century. B ...
and
Provins Provins () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Known for its well-preserved medieval architecture and importance throughout the Middle Ages as an economic center and a host of annu ...
castles in France were circular or polygonal in plan, square keeps predominated in England. Examples of square keeps include the White Tower (the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
),
Castle Hedingham Castle Hedingham is a village in northern Essex, England, located four miles west of Halstead and 3 miles southeast of Great Yeldham in the Colne Valley on the ancient road from Colchester, Essex, to Cambridge. It developed around Hedingham Cas ...
in Essex and
Rochester Castle Rochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, South East England. The 12th-century keep or stone tower, which is the castle's most prominent feature, is one of the best preserved in England or France. Situate ...
in Kent. After 1150, there were a greater number of polygonal keeps, which were harder to mine. Examples include those at
Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...
, Conisborough and Orford castles.Banister Fletcher, p.438 These castles of rectangular plan are ''hall-keeps'', with their primary purpose being as the dwelling of a ruler, the hall being the main living chamber, generally on the first floor. In some such keeps the basement level has columns supporting a vault. The floors above this are of wood, supported on long timber beams of which plenty could be cut from the forests at that date. Within a large keep like that at Rochester, the main spaces could be divided by a stone wall or tier of arcades rising through several storeys. Many castles had projecting turrets at the corners which contained spiral staircases, while the thick walls of the upper storeys contained passages. Rochester has retained a fireplace set into a wall within a decorated arch. Upper floors of Romanesque keeps sometimes have differentiated windows marking the private rooms of the lord and lady. There may also be a chapel; for example, located in the White Tower of the Tower of London is the St John's Chapel, set in a corner turret. In mountainous regions, castles often take highly irregular forms, adapting the plan to the site in varied ways. Castles have often developed over the centuries and typically have had additional encircling walls added. Between 1072 and 1080,
Sancho III of Navarre Sancho Garcés III ( 992-996 – 18 October 1035), also known as Sancho the Great ( es, Sancho el Mayor, eu, Antso Gartzez Nagusia), was the King of Pamplona from 1004 until his death in 1035. He also ruled the County of Aragon and by marriage t ...
(the Great) built
Loarre Castle The Castle of Loarre is a Romanesque Castle and Abbey located near the town of the same name, Huesca Province in the Aragon autonomous region of Spain. It is one of the oldest castles in Spain. History The castle was built largely during t ...
on a high rocky ridge in the foothills of the Pyrenees, as a commitment to the
Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...
. The castle was further fortified in the 13th century by an outer wall with ten towers. Although outwardly of austere appearance, Castle Loarre has living quarters of comparative comfort, and a chapel ornamented with fine carvings. File:Turmhügelburg.jpg, A reconstructed motte and tower at
Lütjenburg Lütjenburg ( Low German: ''Lüttenborg'') is a town of the district of Plön, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located approximately northeast of Plön, and east of Kiel. History left, Lütjenburg in 1895 Lütjenburg was founded in the 12t ...
, Germany. File:Chateau-de-Gisors.jpg, The polygonal donjon at
Gisors Gisors () is a Communes of France, commune of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy, France. It is located northwest from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Gisors, together with the neighbouring communes of Trie-Château and Trie-la-Vill ...
, France, on a motte with an encircling wall. File:Rochester castle.jpg,
Rochester Castle Rochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, South East England. The 12th-century keep or stone tower, which is the castle's most prominent feature, is one of the best preserved in England or France. Situate ...
, a rectangular Norman keep in England. File:Castillo de Loarre - Vista 02.jpg, The irregularly shaped
Loarre Castle The Castle of Loarre is a Romanesque Castle and Abbey located near the town of the same name, Huesca Province in the Aragon autonomous region of Spain. It is one of the oldest castles in Spain. History The castle was built largely during t ...
in the
Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
, Spain.


Walled castles and palaces

Other castles begun in the 11th century were built on elevated sites that took advantage of the steep slopes for defense, rather than on moats. The central tower became the final defensive layer of the castle, while the main domestic quarters were built against the walls around the perimeter, allowing plenty of room for a variety of functions. Conisborough Castle is an English example, with the
shell keep A shell keep is a style of medieval fortification, best described as a stone structure circling the top of a motte. In English castle morphology, shell keeps are perceived as the successors to motte-and-bailey castles, with the wooden fence arou ...
rising on the earlier motte, and a wall with the residential and service quarters built into it, enclosing the bailey. The ruins within the bailey show remains of a
great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...
with central fireplace, a kitchen and a two storeyed residential block with adjacent latrines. The keep itself contains a room for the lord, complete with a hooded fireplace, while a small vaulted chapel was built into the thick outer wall of the keep.
Ludlow Castle Ludlow Castle is a ruined medieval fortification in the town of the same name in the English county of Shropshire, standing on a promontory overlooking the River Teme. The castle was probably founded by Walter de Lacy after the Norman conque ...
,
Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
begun in the 11th century, was lived in by a number of members of the Tudor royal family and had both its fortifications and living quarters improved over several centuries. The
Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...
Castle St Ulrich at
Ribeauvillé Ribeauvillé (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Rappschwihr''; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It was a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the de ...
,
Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
, and Castle Trifel at
Annweiler Annweiler am Trifels (), or Annweiler is a town in the Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Queich, 12 km west of Landau. Annweiler am Trifels station is on the Landau–Saarbrücken ...
are examples of this type of castles with comfortable living quarters.
Münzenberg Castle Münzenberg Castle (German. ''Burg Münzenberg'') is a ruined hill castle in the town of the same name in the Wetteraukreis, Hesse, Germany. It dates from the 12th century. It is one of the best preserved castles from the High Middle Ages in Germ ...
is remarkable in having two tall keeps. It has a two encircling walls, with an ornate palace built into the wall of the upper ward, with galleries of mullioned windows looking out over the valley. Other less fortified dwellings, such as the Palaces of Kaiserwerth,
Gelnhausen Gelnhausen () is a town, and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig. It is one of ...
, Landsberg and
Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...
, were constructed on more accessible sites, and were in regular use by the imperial court or officials. They have large halls, atriums, colonnaded balconies and courtyards surrounded by arcades, similar to monastic cloisters. These complexes, where they have survived without the over-zealous Romantic restoration of the 19th century seen at Goslar, are buildings of great architectural refinement. Many town walls, monastic precincts and palaces had gatehouses built with a guardroom or living quarters above a large archway. One of the earliest is the gateway of Lorsch Abbey, the lower part of which has three openings like a Roman triumphal arch, while the upper part, of polychrome brick, has detailing resembling half-timbered house, the effect enhanced by the large steeply pitched slate roof. By contrast the gatehouse of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds resembles a church tower. Many Romanesque gates are set into the walls of Italian cities. These are invariably of fine masonry and battlemented but otherwise without ornamentation. File:Fortress St. Ulrich.jpg, Castle St Ulrich is the best preserved of the Romanesque castles of
Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
. File:Ludlow01.jpg,
Ludlow Castle Ludlow Castle is a ruined medieval fortification in the town of the same name in the English county of Shropshire, standing on a promontory overlooking the River Teme. The castle was probably founded by Walter de Lacy after the Norman conque ...
reveals its long history in the windows of its domestic quarters. File:Münzenberg Palas.JPG, The ornate palace and tall narrow keep in the upper ward of
Münzenberg Castle Münzenberg Castle (German. ''Burg Münzenberg'') is a ruined hill castle in the town of the same name in the Wetteraukreis, Hesse, Germany. It dates from the 12th century. It is one of the best preserved castles from the High Middle Ages in Germ ...
. File:Cheb hrad 5.jpg,
Cheb Cheb (; german: Eger) is a town in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 30,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Ohře. Before the 1945 Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, expulsion of the German-speaking population ...
Castle, Czech Republic, has retained intact the Chapel of St Erhard and St Ursula.


Domestic buildings


Characteristics

Few houses of the Romanesque period have survived across Europe. One reason is that many of them were built of wooden or half timbered construction. A number of half timbered houses in Germany at Esslingen, Bad Wimpfen and Schwäbisch Hall have been shown to date from this period. The houses that are still standing are mostly of stone, like the house at Bad Munstereifel in Germany, the houses in
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
, England, and the houses of the village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert,
Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; oc, Lengadòc-Rosselhon ; ca, Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and ...
, France. One of the simplest types of Romanesque house was the "long house". These were typically built of wood and thatch, were of a single story and housed both the family and the livestock. The long house had doors in either side, making a passage dividing the living quarters of the family from that of the animals. The living room had a central hearth, with smoke holes in the gable. There is an extant stone long house of this plan at
Bad Kösen Bad Kösen () is a spa town on the Saale river in the small wine-growing region of Saale-Unstrut, Germany. It is a former municipality in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt. Bad Kösen has a population of around 5,300. Since 1 Januar ...
, Germany File:Romanisches Haus Bad Kösen-1.JPG, Romanesque long house at
Bad Kösen Bad Kösen () is a spa town on the Saale river in the small wine-growing region of Saale-Unstrut, Germany. It is a former municipality in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt. Bad Kösen has a population of around 5,300. Since 1 Januar ...
, Germany. File:Boothby Pagnell.jpg, Manor house at
Boothby Pagnell Boothby Pagnell is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population is now included in the civil parish of Bitchfield and Bassingthorpe. History The village lay in the historical wapentake of ...
,
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
, England. File:Oakham Castle and church spire.jpg, The great hall of
Oakham Castle Oakham Castle is a historic building in Oakham, Rutland. The Castle is known for its collection of massive horseshoes and is also recognised as one of the best examples of domestic Norman architecture in England. It is a Grade I listed building ...
, England. File:Oakham Castle Horseshoes.jpg, The interior of Oakham Castle.
A substantial stone-built Romanesque house, like the Romanesque castle keep, usually had the main living space on the first floor, elevated above an undercroft. This undercroft might take two forms, either an enclosed cellar-like basement, or an open loggia. It might serve for storage, as a stable or for commercial purposes, depending on the location and owners of the house. This arrangement is apparent at the Manor House at
Boothby Pagnell Boothby Pagnell is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population is now included in the civil parish of Bitchfield and Bassingthorpe. History The village lay in the historical wapentake of ...
, and St Mary's Guild, both in Lincolnshire, England. The living space on the first floor was, in the simpler houses, a single room, with access by an external staircase of stone or wood. Early houses might have an open stone hearth and a smoke hole in the roof. The interiors of houses developed with separate chambers and partitions of stone or wood. Additional rooms might be accessed from an external wooden gallery, cantilevered from holes and corbels along the walls, as seen the 13th-century house at
Poreč Poreč (; it, Parenzo; la, Parens or ; grc, Πάρενθος, Párenthos) is a town and municipality on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, in Istria County, west Croatia. Its major landmark is the 6th-century Euphrasian Basilica, whic ...
,
Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...
. Doorways might have a stone or wooden lintel, but were often arched, and in finer houses had mouldings, decorative carvings and perhaps colonnettes and carved capitals around the doors. A common form of doorway in Italy had shaped corbels projecting inward to support a stone transom, above which rose an open arch. This form continued into the Gothic period and evolved into the
fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window, often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, and is sometimes hinged to a transom. Th ...
The simplest window were narrow and round-topped. Windows into important rooms were often paired arched openings, divided by a colonnette or
mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
. Some houses have paired mullioned windows set under lintels rather than arches, while in France there are a number of houses which have rows of square topped windows divided by mullions and piers, set within the framework of a horizontal course, and forming a gallery.


City houses and tower houses

Houses built within medieval cities were restricted in space, often by the fact that the town was encircled by walls. As a response to this, houses in cities were usually multi-storeyed. The simplest of these buildings were extremely cramped for space, having just a single room on each floor, accessible only by steep ladder-like stairs. In some cases exterior staircases gave onto wooden balconies which served the upper floors of a whole row of tall narrow houses, as is evidenced by the rows of holes and supporting corbels that are found in the walls of a great many Italian medieval buildings. Likewise, small inner courts which provided light and air were communal spaces for surrounding buildings. They also provided for the collection of rainwater. Narrow multi-storeyed houses of the Romanesque period have survived in a number of cities, with the greatest number occurring in Italy, where they are generally built of stone or brick and have often been extended at later dates, or had their Romanesque openings altered, making them indistinguishable from later medieval buildings. Casa Dante, thought to have been the home of
Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
, in Florence, is a good surviving example. In Germany the Baumburg Tower in
Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...
is an elegant late 13th-century example showing elements that are transitional between Romanesque and Gothic in its decorative window openings which are different on each floor, and contrast with the smoothly stuccoed walls. Another house, at Karden, has similar features but in form combines a tower house and a hall. The extremes of tall city housing are found in
San Gimignano San Gimignano () is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of ...
,
Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...
and
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
where families rivaled each other in the construction of very tall tower houses. In Bologna only the Torre Garisenda, (1100), 130 ft and the Torre Asinelli, (1109), 225 ft, have survived, twenty tower houses survive in
Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...
, many of them lowered in height in the modern age, but the much smaller walled hill-town of San Gimignano contains fourteen tower and the stumps of very many more, having once bristled with them. It has been suggested that the tall houses of this city served the practical purpose of suspending bolts of cloth for drying, in the shade rather than in the sun. File:Rosheim maison romane.jpg, House in
Rosheim Rosheim (; gsw-FR, Rose) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It lies southwest of Strasbourg, on the eastern slopes of the Vosges mountains. It is a winemaking town on the tourist "Road of the Wines o ...
, France, showing external staircase. File:Cluny R Lamartine maison DSCN1907.JPG, Houses in
Cluny Cluny () is a commune in the eastern French department of Saône-et-Loire, in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is northwest of Mâcon. The town grew up around the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in 9 ...
, France, one with half-timbering and render. File:Villemagne-l'Argentiere maison monnaies 02.JPG, House in Villemagne-l'Argentiere, France, with carved details on doors and windows. File:San Gimignano 05 crop 2.JPG, House on the Piazza del Duomo in
San Gimignano San Gimignano () is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of ...
, Italy. File:Pvtorri.jpg, The
towers A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifica ...
of Piazza Leonardo da Vinci,
Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...
, 12th century.


Town houses

In France there are a number of locations at which clusters of Romanesque houses have survived. A group exists in the village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, near the ancient monastery. There are a significant number in
Cluny Cluny () is a commune in the eastern French department of Saône-et-Loire, in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is northwest of Mâcon. The town grew up around the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in 9 ...
, including plastered timber-framed examples. The finest Romanesque town-house is at St-Antonin-Noble-Val,
Tarn-et-Garonne Tarn-et-Garonne (; oc, Tarn e Garona ) is a department in the Occitania region in Southern France. It is traversed by the rivers Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its name. The area was originally part of the former provinces of Quercy and ...
, France, built by the Granolhet family in the early 12th century. This substantial house of three storeys has a broad street front, braced on one side by projecting bell tower with typical paired mullioned windows. The ground floor is an open loggia, with an arcade on piers. Across the first floor is a long window or recessed gallery with delicate colonnettes all framed between two continuous horizontal mouldings. On the upper floor is a row of three mullioned windows. In Italy, a significant building of this time is the 12th- or 13th-century Rector's Palace in San Gimignano. This modestly sized building, fronting onto a square, has a symmetrical façade, a low gable that retains the appearance of a Classical pediment, and a portal that has a semi-circular arch raised above a broad lintel supported on corbels, a common feature of medieval Italian domestic architecture and also seen at the House of Dante. This house has a doorway, also with arch and lintel, between the two mullioned windows of its upper floor that once led out onto a balcony, like the one that has been restored on a 13th-century house at
Poreč Poreč (; it, Parenzo; la, Parens or ; grc, Πάρενθος, Párenthos) is a town and municipality on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, in Istria County, west Croatia. Its major landmark is the 6th-century Euphrasian Basilica, whic ...
in Istria,
Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...
. The house at Poreč typifies the nature of the few stone houses remaining of this period in that the main living quarters were on the first floor, elevated above a basement or "undercroft", and accessed by an external stone staircase. The house at Poreč has another feature also seen in England, an external chimney breast projects from the upper storey directly above a doorway. On the aptly named Steep Street that leads up to Lincoln Cathedral (once a great Norman church but almost entirely rebuilt in the Gothic style) are two merchant's houses which are known as "the Jew’s House" and "Aaron the Jew’s House", (c. 1170). Both houses have been much altered and have been fitted with sash windows and shop fronts, but both retain their doorways and both originally had a fireplace to an upper room directly above it, with arches supporting the chimney and framing the door. The details of the mouldings of the arches over the doors and upper windows are of fine craftsmanship. In Italy a complex of medieval buildings has been restored at the Castle of Monselice (Castello Cini) which includes houses from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. The oldest, known as Casa Romanica has two large arches making a loggia at the ground floor, above which rises a plain facade broken only by small windows and a jutting chimney breast. The loggia leads into a large kitchen with rough-hewn wooden columns standing on stone bases and spreading the weight of the wide beams of the upper floor on projecting horizontal brackets. The upper floor has a "great hall" and a smaller room over the loggia with a groin vault. The 12th-century "Castelletto" and 13th-century Ezzolino's Tower have both retained Romanesque characteristics, with the later being built of brick and having more ornate features such as paired mullioned windows on its upper floor. File:Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert20 adjusted.JPG, Two houses in
Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert ( or ; oc, Sant Guilhèm dau Desèrt) is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Situated where the Gellone river's narrow valley meets the steep-sided gorge of the river Hérau ...
. File:Cluny - Maisons romanes rue Joséphine-Desbois -444.jpg, alt= Romanesque house in Cluny., Romanesque house in
Cluny Cluny () is a commune in the eastern French department of Saône-et-Loire, in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is northwest of Mâcon. The town grew up around the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in 9 ...
. File:FacadeAncienneStAntonin.jpg, The house of the Vicomte of
Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val (; oc, Sent Antonin) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Having played an influential and somewhat bellicose role in the history of the region from the 12th to the 1 ...
, (1125). File:Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert8.JPG, House in the village of
Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert ( or ; oc, Sant Guilhèm dau Desèrt) is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Situated where the Gellone river's narrow valley meets the steep-sided gorge of the river Hérau ...
.
File:Seligenstadt Romanisches Haus crop tone adjusted.jpg, 12th-century house of the local ruler in
Seligenstadt Seligenstadt is a town in the Offenbach (district), Offenbach district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt (region), Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Seligenstadt is one of Germany's oldest towns and was already of great importance in Carolingian ...
, Germany. File:Porec romanisches Haus crop.JPG, Poreč Romanesque House, Croatia. File:Lincoln Jew's House straight.JPG, The 12th century Jew's house in
Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...
, England, while carefully conserved and protected, retains all the changes and accretions of later centuries. File:Estella-Palacio Reyes Navarra crop.JPG, Palace of the Kings of Navarre,
Estella Estella may refer to: People * Diego de Estella (1524–1578) * Estella Sneider (born 1950) *Estella Warren (born 1978), Canadian actress *Estella, the ''nom de guerre'' of Italian labor leader Teresa Noce Fictional *Estella Havisham, a charact ...
, Spain. The tower and upper level are 16th-century additions.


Merchant palaces and commercial buildings

Merchant palaces are essentially city buildings, of initially modest scale but growing in size by the 13th century, where wealthy trading families both lived and carried out their businesses. In Venice a number of these buildings remain, with their open basement loggias stretching along the main waterway, the Grand Canal, and the principal rooms of the
piano nobile The ''piano nobile'' (Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ''bel étage'') is the principal floor of a palazzo. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the hou ...
opening onto an arcaded balcony overlooking the view. The round-headed arches are often stilted, and the openings on the upper floors are grouped in patterns with those to the sides being differentiated from the grouping at the centre. The details are handled with a lightness and delicacy that typifies Venetian medieval architecture. While the structures are brick, the favoured material for architectural decoration was marble, which is elaborately carved into intricate details, or laid on the surface as patterned veneers. Like
St Mark's Basilica The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark ( it, Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco), commonly known as St Mark's Basilica ( it, Basilica di San Marco; vec, Baxéłega de San Marco), is the cathedral church of the Catholic Chu ...
, the architecture of the houses shows a
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
influence. They include the
Ca' Farsetti Ca' Farsetti is a palace in Venice, Italy. It is located in the ''sestiere'' (district) of San Marco, and faces the Grand Canal, not far from the Ponte di Rialto. The neighboring building is Palazzo Cavalli. History The palace was built in the ...
,
Ca' da Mosto The Ca' da Mosto is a 13th-century, Venetian-Byzantine style palace, the oldest on the Grand Canal, located between the Rio dei Santi Apostoli and the Palazzo Bollani Erizzo, in the sestiere of Cannaregio in Venice, Italy. Architecture left, ...
, Ca' Loredan, and the Fondaco dei Turchi. Fondaco dei Turchi was built as a private palace for the wealthy Pesaro family and, like the other palazzi along the Grand Canal, was designed to facilitate business, with its long arcade stretching along the main waterway. It was one of the most imposing buildings in Venice during the late Medieval period, and was used by the Senate to accommodate visiting dignitaries. It was later leased to Turkish traders, hence its name. Although heavily restored during the 19th century, the building demonstrates typical features of Venetian Romanesque: the stilted, round-topped arches of the arcade, the pavilions at each end of the building, the upper gallery, the crenellations and patera, marble roundels or foliate ornaments applied to the exterior walls. The Northern European version of the merchant house can be seen at the Overstolzenhaus, in Cologne, with six stories of windows and crow-stepped gables. While the open loggias of houses were used for trade and those of town halls were widely used for markets, (see below) other commercial buildings were purpose-built, sometimes by city authorities, to facilitate trade, with an important example of an extant commercial building being the ' ( en, Old Corn Warehouse) in Ghent, Belgium, which is close by the quay and has a wide front with two rows of openings to facilitate the handling and stacking of bags of grain. File:Venice - Palazzo Loredan & Palazzo Farsetti crop.JPG, Ca' Loredan, and
Ca' Farsetti Ca' Farsetti is a palace in Venice, Italy. It is located in the ''sestiere'' (district) of San Marco, and faces the Grand Canal, not far from the Ponte di Rialto. The neighboring building is Palazzo Cavalli. History The palace was built in the ...
, Venice. The two lower floors are from early 13th century. File:Fondaco dei Turchi.jpg, Fondaco dei Turchi (early 13th century) on the Grand Canal, Venice. File:Köln-Altstadt-Süd Rheingasse 8 Overstolzenhaus Denkmal 124.jpg, House Overstolz, Cologne, Germany. File:Gent - Spijker crop.jpg, ', Ghent, Belgium.


Civic buildings

In Italy a number of important Romanesque civic buildings have remained largely intact and have continued in use. It is characteristic of Italian Medieval architecture that there is no clear break between the Romanesque and Gothic styles. Groin vaults, rounded arches, paired windows, horizontal courses and other such features continued in use from the 11th century to the early 15th century.Banister Fletcher, pp. 598–633 Often, in secular architecture, only the shape of the heads of windows indicate a late 13th- or 14th-century date rather than 12th or early 13th century. Many of Italy's finest Romanesque buildings, such as the Palazzo della Ragione, Mantua (begun 1250), were constructed many years after the Gothic style was already well established. The open ground-floor loggia that is found in some Romanesque town houses also occurs in Italy at a number of buildings that served civic or communal purposes. In the cities of Mantua, Milan and Padua the Palazzo della Ragione ("place of reason") and in Como and
Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...
the
Broletto In Middle Age Communes in Italy, a broletto was the place where the whole population met for democratic assemblies, and where the elected men lived and administered justice. ''Broletto'' is an ancient Italian word, from medieval Latin "broilum, bro ...
served as a town hall and centre of local government. These buildings spread their vast facades across large city squares which contrasted with the cramped medieval living quarters of most townsfolk. The loggia provided a covered communal space, and at Padua has been extended to form the city's major market. The Palazzo in Milan, also known as the Broletto Nuovo, ("New Court House") is a red brick structure with stone piers and rendered upper floor. It window arches are polychrome in the Italian style. The Broletto in Como is faced with polychrome marble. The Tuscan hill town of Massa Marittima has two Romanesque civic buildings which typify the character of medieval architecture of Tuscany as against that found in the north. The Palazzo del Podestà and Palazzo del Comune of Massa Marittima represent a type of Romanesque civic building that continued in the Gothic style in other hill towns such as Volterra and reached its grandest expression in late the 13th-century Bargello and early 14th-century Palazzo Vecchio of Florence, and the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena. Exterior of Palazzo della Ragione (Padua).jpg, The
Palazzo della Ragione, Padua The Palazzo della Ragione is a medieval market hall, town hall and palace of justice building in Padua, in the Veneto region of Italy. The upper floor was dedicated to the town and justice administration; while the ground floor still hosts the hi ...
, (1172–1219) File:Mantova01.jpg, The Palazzo della Ragione, Mantua, (1250), has battlements that proclaim the city's political affinities. File:Broletto-Est.JPG, The polychrome marble facade of the
Broletto In Middle Age Communes in Italy, a broletto was the place where the whole population met for democratic assemblies, and where the elected men lived and administered justice. ''Broletto'' is an ancient Italian word, from medieval Latin "broilum, bro ...
,
Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...
. File:PvBroletto.jpg, The courtyard of the Broletto, Pavia, broletto of
Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...
.


Romanesque revival

During the 19th century, when Gothic Revival architecture was fashionable, buildings were occasionally designed in the Romanesque style. There are a number of Romanesque Revival churches, dating from as early as the 1830s and continuing into the 20th century where the massive and "brutal" quality of the Romanesque style was appreciated and designed in brick. The Natural History Museum, London designed by Alfred Waterhouse, 1879, on the other hand, is a Romanesque revival building which makes full use of the decorative potential of Romanesque arcading and architectural sculpture. The Romanesque appearance has been achieved while freely adapting an overall style to suit the function of the building. The columns of the foyer, for example, give an impression of incised geometric design similar to those of Durham Cathedral. However, the sources of the incised patterns are the trunks of palms, cycads and tropical tree ferns. The animal motifs, of which there are many, include rare and exotic species. The type of modern buildings for which the Romanesque style was most frequently adapted was the warehouse, where a lack of large windows and an appearance of great strength and stability were desirable features. These buildings, generally of brick, frequently have flattened buttresses rising to wide arches at the upper levels after the manner of some Italian Romanesque facades. This style was adapted to suit commercial buildings by opening the spaces between the arches into large windows, the brick walls becoming a shell to a building that was essentially of modern steel-frame construction, the architect Henry Hobson Richardson giving his name to the style, Richardsonian Romanesque. Good examples of the style are Marshall Fields store, Chicago by H.H.Richardson, 1885, and the Chadwick Lead Works in Boston, USA by William G. Preston, William Preston, 1887. The style also lent itself to the building of cloth mills, steelworks and powerstations.Nikolaus Pevsner, ''An Outline of European Architecture'' File:Queen Victoria Building 4 adjusted.JPG, The Queen Victoria Building, Sydney, Australia, architect George McRae. File:Neuschwanstein from north 02.JPG, Neuschwanstein Castle at Hohenschwangau, Germany. File:Woburn, Massachusetts, Library with statue of Benjamin Thompson.JPG, The Library, Woburn, Massachusetts. File:University College Front Facade.jpg, University College, Toronto.


Notes and references


Bibliography

* V.I. Atroshenko and Judith Collins, ''The Origins of the Romanesque'', Lund Humphries, London, 1985, * John Beckwith, ''Early Medieval Art'', Thames and Hudson, (1964) * R. Allen Brown, ''Castles: A History and Guide'', New Orchard Editions, (1985) * Trewin Copplestone, ''World Architecture, an Illustrated History'', Paul Hamlyn, (1963) * F. H. Crossley, revised, Brian Little, ''The English Abbey'', Batsford, London, (1962) * Dodwell, C.R.; ''The Pictorial arts of the West, 800–1200'', 1993, Yale UP, * Banister Fletcher, ''A History of Architecture on the Comparative method'' (2001). Elsevier Science & Technology. . * Helen Gardner (art historian), Helen Gardner; Fred S. Kleiner, Christin J. Mamiya, ''Gardner's Art through the Ages''. Thomson Wadsworth, (2004) . * George Holmes, editor, ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe'', Oxford University Press, (1992) * René Huyghe, ''Larousse Encyclopedia of Byzantine and Medieval Art'', Paul Hamlyn, (1958) * Paul Johnson, ''The National Trust Book of British Castles'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, (1978) * Marion Kaminski, ''Art and Architecture of Venice'', Könemann, (1999) * Peter Kidson, ''The Medieval World'', Paul Hamlyn, (1967) * Marian Moffett, Michael Fazio, Lawrence Wodehouse, ''A World History of Architecture'', Lawrence King Publishing, (2003), . * Nikolaus Pevsner, ''An Outline of European Architecture''. Pelican Books (1964) * Rolf Toman, ''Romanesque: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting'', Könemann, (1997), * Rosella Vantaggi, ''San Gimignano, Town of fine Towers'', Plurigraf, (1979)


See also

{{commons, Romanesque architecture *List of Romanesque architecture *Regional characteristics of Romanesque architecture *Romanesque art *Romanesque sculpture *Renaissance of the 12th century *Romanesque Revival architecture *Medieval architecture *Pre-Romanesque art and architecture *Ottonian architecture *Romano-Gothic, Romano-Gothic architecture *Gothic architecture *
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 ...
Romanesque architecture