Early Medieval Architecture

Early medieval architecture, the architecture of Christian Europe from the conversion of Constantine to the coming of the Romanesque in the late tenth and eleventh centuries, is dominated by two building types: the Christian basilica in the Latin West, and the domed central-plan church in the Byzantine East. The basilica, a longitudinal hall with a nave, side aisles, and an apse, was a Roman civic building type that Constantine and his successors adapted for Christian worship, and it became the standard church building of the Latin West. The domed central-plan church, in which a great dome rises over a centralized or cross-shaped plan, was the standard building of the Byzantine East, and its masterpiece, the Hagia Sophia, set the standard for Orthodox Christian architecture for the next thousand years. The broader context is in the early medieval art and architecture, and the related discussion of the Byzantine tradition is in the early Christian and Byzantine art. The Carolingian and Ottonian architectural contribution is treated in the Carolingian and Ottonian art, and the political and religious context is in the Byzantine Empire. On the pre-Romanesque building side, the pre-Romanesque architecture is the place to look.

The early medieval period was not a dark age of architecture. The great basilicas of Rome, the domed churches of Constantinople, the cathedral complexes of Ravenna, the imperial chapel at Aachen, and the great cathedrals of the Ottonian empire were major architectural achievements that built on the technical inheritance of late antiquity and developed new building types, new construction techniques, and new decorative programs. The early medieval architect had to work within the constraints of the post-imperial economy, the limited availability of skilled labor, the rising cost of materials, and the changing demands of Christian liturgy, but the result was a distinctive architectural tradition that would shape the Romanesque and Gothic architecture of the high Middle Ages.

The Constantinian Revolution

The conversion of Constantine in 312 and the Christianization of the Roman Empire transformed the architecture of the Western world. Before Constantine, Christian communities had worshipped in private houses, in converted warehouses, and in modest meeting halls; the great public buildings of the empire were the basilicas, the baths, the amphitheaters, and the triumphal arches of the imperial cities. After Constantine, the Christian Church became the largest single patron of architecture in the Roman world, and the great imperial basilicas of Rome, the Holy Land, and Constantinople set the standard for Christian church building for the next thousand years.

The Christian basilica was based on the Roman basilica, a large rectangular hall used for the administration of justice and the conduct of public business. The Roman basilica had a central nave, side aisles, an apse at one end, and a clerestory that lit the central space. Constantine and his architects adapted the form for Christian worship, with the apse turned toward the east, the altar placed in the apse, and the nave fitted with a synthronon (the curving bench for the clergy) and a solea (the processional way to the altar). The transept, the crossing, and the narthex were later additions, but the basic form — a longitudinal hall with a central nave, side aisles, an apse, and a clerestory — remained the standard for Christian church building in the Latin West.

The greatest surviving example of the early Christian basilica is Old St. Peter’s in Rome, built under Constantine between 326 and 333 and rebuilt in the sixteenth century by Pope Julius II. The original Constantinian church, the Lateran basilica, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem were the great Constantinian building projects. The new construction used the materials and techniques of late Roman building: the brick-faced concrete of the Roman walls, the marble columns spoliated from pagan temples, the timber roof of the central nave, the mosaic decoration of the apse and the nave walls. The result was a new architectural type — the Christian basilica — that would dominate the architecture of the Latin West for centuries.

The Great Basilicas of Rome and Ravenna

The fifth and sixth centuries saw the construction of the great basilicas of Rome, Milan, and Ravenna. In Rome, the great basilicas of the Santa Maria Maggiore (rebuilt 432–440 under Pope Sixtus III), San Paolo fuori le mura (begun 386), and San Lorenzo fuori le mura (begun 580) were the major building projects. The great columns of the nave were spoliated from earlier Roman buildings, the apse and the nave walls were decorated with mosaics, the altars were decorated with gold and silver, and the liturgical furniture was of imperial scale. The architectural style remained recognizably late Roman, with its mastery of large interior space, its careful proportioning, and its rich decorative program.

In Ravenna, the western capital of the later empire, the surviving buildings are the most extensive and best-preserved example of late antique and early Byzantine architecture. The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (c. 425–450), the Arian Baptistery (c. 526), the Neonian Baptistery (c. 430–450), the Archbishop’s Chapel (c. 500), the great basilica of the Sant’Apollinare Nuovo (c. 504), the circular church of the San Vitale (c. 527–547), and the basilica of the Sant’Apollinare in Classe (c. 533–549) are the major surviving monuments. The architectural style shows the transition from the late Roman to the fully Byzantine: the longitudinal basilica is combined with the central-plan church, the timber roof is combined with the domed vault, and the late Roman construction in brick is combined with the new decoration in mosaic and marble revetment.

The Architecture of the Byzantine Empire

The architecture of the eastern Roman Empire was based on the central-plan church, in which a central dome rises over a centralized or cross-shaped plan. The most famous example is the Hagia Sophia, rebuilt under Justinian I between 532 and 537 by the mathematicians Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus. The building is a centralized rectangle with a vast central dome supported on four great pendentives, two half-domes to the east and west, and two lower aisles to the north and south. The dome, about 31 meters in diameter, was the largest in the world when the building was completed and would remain so until the construction of the dome of Florence Cathedral in the fifteenth century.

The Hagia Sophia set the standard for Orthodox Christian architecture. The great churches of Constantinople, the church of the Holy Apostles, the churches of St. Sergius and Bacchus, the church of St. Irene, and the great monastic churches of the Greek world all show the influence of the Justinianic building. The cross-in-square plan, in which a central dome is supported on four piers and the building is divided into nine bays, became the standard architectural form of the Orthodox church in the Middle Byzantine period. The technique of brick and stone construction, the use of ceramic decoration, the carved marble revetment, and the gold-ground mosaic decoration were all developed in this period.

The provincial architecture of the Byzantine Empire was also distinctive. The churches of Thessalonica, of which the Rotunda and the Church of St. Demetrius are the most famous, show the continuation of the central-plan and basilican traditions. The churches of Asia Minor, of which the Church of St. John at Ephesus is the most famous, show the local variations on the central-plan type. The monastic churches of Mount Athos, Cappadocia, and the Greek islands developed the cross-in-square plan and the triconch in a distinctive regional tradition.

Insular and Anglo-Saxon Architecture

The architecture of the British Isles in the early Middle Ages was, by comparison with the Mediterranean, modest in scale and ambition. The great monastic and royal sites of Iona, Lindisfarne, Wearmouth-Jarrow, Canterbury, and the other Anglo-Saxon and Irish foundations were built of timber, wattle and daub, thatch, and local stone. The famous churches of the period, of which the surviving churches at the Escomb, Brixworth, and Bradford-on-Avon are the most famous surviving examples, were built in the local stone, with thick walls, small windows, and steeply pitched roofs. The architectural style combined Roman, Celtic, and Germanic elements in a distinctive regional tradition.

The great Irish monastic sites of Clonmacnoise, Glendalough, Kells, and Monasterboice were built in the same modest materials, but they were the centers of a rich and complex monastic culture. The Irish high crosses (see the Insular and Anglo-Saxon art), were the most distinctive surviving monuments. The Anglo-Saxon churches of the period were built in the Roman basilican tradition, often with eastern apses, western towers, and side porches. The surviving examples at the Escomb, Brixworth, and Bradford-on-Avon show the late Roman influence, while the stone tower of the Anglo-Saxon church of the Earls Barton shows the local Anglo-Saxon tradition of decorative stonework.

The Anglo-Saxon and Insular architectural tradition was transformed by the Norman Conquest of 1066. The great Norman cathedrals of Canterbury, Durham, Winchester, and Ely were built in the Romanesque style imported from the Continent, and the great Anglo-Saxon churches were progressively rebuilt. The early English style of the late eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Decorated and Perpendicular styles of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, and the rich architectural tradition of the late medieval English church all draw on the Norman Romanesque inheritance rather than on the earlier Anglo-Saxon and Insular traditions.

Carolingian and Ottonian Architecture

The Carolingian and Ottonian architectural traditions built on the late Roman and Early Christian inheritance and developed new building types, new construction techniques, and new decorative programs. The great the Palace Chapel at Aachen (begun c. 792, dedicated 805), the most important surviving example of Carolingian architecture, was a centralized octagonal building inspired by the late Roman mausolea and by the church of San Vitale at Ravenna. The chapel, with its central dome supported on eight piers, set the standard for the centralized Carolingian church and influenced the development of the Ottonian and Romanesque architectural traditions.

The Carolingian westwork, a massive western entrance structure with a central tower and side stairways, became a distinctive feature of the Carolingian and Ottonian church. The Ottonian double-choir church, in which the altar is placed at the east end and a second sanctuary is placed at the west end, became a distinctive feature of the Ottonian cathedral. The surviving Ottonian churches at the Hildesheim (St. Michael’s and the Cathedral), Essen, Gernrode, and Werden show the development of the Ottonian architectural tradition in stone. The bronze doors and the bronze column of the Hildesheim, cast under Bishop Bernward in 1015, are the major surviving examples of Ottonian monumental sculpture in an architectural context.

Pre-Romanesque Architecture

The period between the coming of the Viking raids in the late eighth century and the revival of monumental building in the late tenth and eleventh centuries saw the development of a distinctive pre-Romanesque architectural tradition in western Europe. The pre-Romanesque style is characterized by thick walls, small windows, simple plans, heavy stone construction, and a relatively limited decorative program. The style developed in the context of the post-Carolingian fragmentation, the Viking raids, and the limited resources of the post-imperial economy, and it prepared the way for the Romanesque revival of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

The major pre-Romanesque traditions include the Anglo-Saxon, the Ottonian, the Asturian (in northern Spain), the Mozarabic (in the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula), the Lombard (in northern Italy), and the early French and German Romanesque. Each of these traditions developed its own distinctive building types, construction techniques, and decorative programs. The pre-Romanesque tradition is treated in detail in pre-Romanesque architecture.