EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
Age of Cathedrals
Howard Bloch, Yale University
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E Notre Dame and the Wave of Cathedral Building Notes taken on January 7, 2018 by Edward Tanguay |
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Paris of the 12th century was one of the great stopping places
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the city had been settled by a Celtic tribe, the Parisii in the 3rd century BC
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52 BC Romans establish Gallo-Roman settlement "Lutetia Parisorum"
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Île de la Cité
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where the Cathedral of Notre Dame built 10 centuries later
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early history of Paris
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3rd century AD
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France was Christianized
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occupied by Germanic King Clovis
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496 converted to Christianity
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508 Clovis made Paris his capital
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800 Charlemagne united much of Europe under his rule
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814 Charlemagne died and Europe found itself vulnerable to invasions
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Muslims from the Mediterranean
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Magyars from the east
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Norsemen from Scandinavia
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845 Paris was attacked by Viking invaders
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sailed their ships up the Seine
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looted and burned what they could
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876 Viking invasion
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population 20,000
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885 Viking invasion
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911 Peace treaty with Vikings
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1200 population 110,000
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1348 Black Death
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population 250,000
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plague was killing 800 people per day
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opening of trade routes
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Notre Dame
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and early basilica stood where Notre Dame now stands
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build in 4th century
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6th century
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Christianity became the official religion of state in Paris (Lutetia Parisiorum)
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Church of St. Stephen
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Merovingian church
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built to the west of the site of Notre Dame
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possibly under the reign of King Childebert (496-558)
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1182 East Choir completed
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Maurice de Sully (-1196)
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1163 corner stone of Notre Dame was laid
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in the presence of Pope Alexander III (1105-1181)
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first wall of Notre Dame built was restored in 19th century by Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc
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flying buttress
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was meant to offset a lateral pressure exerted by a wide ceiling vault
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some saw in a building so high, a violation of God
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1185
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3rd crusade was declared on the steps of Notre Dame
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vault of 32.8 meters, it was the highest church when built
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cathedrals at Noyon, Sens, Chartres (1194), Bourges, Amiens (1221), Laon, Le Mans, Beauvais (1225), and Reims (1212) all surpassed Notre Dame in height
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the vault at Beauvais was so high that it collapsed in 1284
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many theologians, clergymen, statesmen and feudal princes were convinced that the world would end in 1000
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this may have curtailed the desire to built big and high, which became popular after 1000