“A White Mantle of Churches”
“A White Mantle of Churches”
This chapter examines the church building and reconstruction boom in postmillennial Europe, and especially in France and Italy: what Rodulfus Glaber calls a “white mantle of churches.” The new churches proclaimed Romanitas (Romanness) by their construction in stone, Rome's premier building material. They “copied” specific ancient churches, especially Constantine's St. Peter's basilica in Rome and Constantine's Anastasis rotunda above the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This chapter begins with an overview of the role played by the Ottonian architecture in the transition from Carolingian to Romanesque, along with the Ottonian influence on major churches of the Continent. It then turns to “pre-Romanesque” or “proto-Romanesque” architecture that was evolving in the Mediterranean south before discussing the emergence of the Romanesque architecture in central France. It also considers Glaber's statement that church reconstruction was being undertaken even though the existing churches were for the most part “properly built and not in the least unworthy”.
Keywords: church building, Europe, France, Italy, Rodulfus Glaber, churches, Ottonian architecture, Mediterranean, Romanesque architecture, church reconstruction
Cornell Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
