What Was Pre-Romanesque Architecture?

Pre-Romanesque architecture is the name given to the architectural traditions of western Europe from roughly the late eighth to the late tenth centuries, the period between the decline of the late Roman and early Christian building traditions and the development of the Romanesque revival of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The term is used to describe the building styles that developed in the Carolingian Empire, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the Ottonian Empire, the Asturian kingdom of northern Spain, the Mozarabic churches of the Iberian Peninsula, the Lombard churches of northern Italy, and the post-Carolingian kingdoms of France and Germany. Pre-Romanesque architecture is characterized by thick walls, small windows, simple plans, heavy stone construction, and a relatively limited decorative program. For the broader context, see early medieval architecture and early medieval art and architecture, and for the related discussion of the basilica as a building type, see the linked long-tail.

The pre-Romanesque period is sometimes treated as a dark age of architecture, between the great building programs of late antiquity and the Romanesque revival of the high Middle Ages. The decline of monumental building in the fifth and sixth centuries, the disruption of the post-Carolingian political order, the Viking raids, and the limited resources of the post-imperial economy all contributed to a reduction in the scale and ambition of architectural projects. But the period also saw the development of distinctive regional traditions, the survival of late Roman and early Christian building techniques, and the gradual recovery of monumental building that would culminate in the Romanesque revival of the eleventh century.

Origins and Development

The pre-Romanesque style developed in the context of the post-Carolingian political fragmentation of the late ninth century. The death of Charlemagne, the breakup of the Carolingian Empire, the Viking raids, the Magyar invasions, and the political instability of the period all disrupted the great building programs of the Carolingian Renaissance. The court school at Aachen lost its central role, the great monastery scriptoria of Tours, Reims, and Corbie were disrupted, and the great cathedrals of the late Roman and early Christian periods were progressively rebuilt or replaced. The result was a period of regional architectural traditions, each developing its own building types, construction techniques, and decorative programs.

The major pre-Romanesque traditions include the Ottonian, the Anglo-Saxon, the Asturian and Mozarabic, the Lombard, the early French, the early German, and the early Italian. Each of these traditions developed its own distinctive building types: the Ottonian developed the double-choir church and the westwork; the Anglo-Saxon developed the tower-nave church and the cruciform plan; the Asturian developed the small centralized church; the Mozarabic developed the horseshoe arch and the use of brick and stone together; the Lombard developed the decorative pilaster strip and the use of brick; the early French and German developed the hall church and the crypt.

Major Surviving Examples

The surviving pre-Romanesque churches are widely distributed across western Europe. The most important surviving examples include the surviving churches of Anglo-Saxon England, the Ottonian churches of central Europe, the Mozarabic churches of northern Spain, the Lombard churches of northern Italy, and the early Romanesque churches of France and Germany.

In Anglo-Saxon England, the surviving pre-Romanesque churches include the churches at the Escomb (County Durham, c. 670–800), Brixworth (Northamptonshire, c. 670), Bradford-on-Avon (Wiltshire, c. 700–1000), Earls Barton (Northamptonshire, c. 1000), and the fragments of the great Anglo-Saxon cathedral of Canterbury. The Anglo-Saxon churches are characterized by thick walls, small windows, narrow naves, square apses, and decorative stonework on the wall surfaces.

In Ottonian Germany, the surviving pre-Romanesque churches include the great cathedrals of the Hildesheim (St. Michael’s, c. 1001–1031), Essen (c. 845), Gernrode (c. 961), Werden (c. 780–1000), and the monastery churches of the Reichenau, Trier, and Cologne. The Ottonian churches are characterized by the double-choir plan, the westwork, the crypt, the use of alternating piers and columns in the nave, and the rich decorative program of carved stone, painted plaster, and mosaic.

In the Iberian Peninsula, the surviving pre-Romanesque churches include the Asturian churches of the Santa María del Naranco (c. 848), San Miguel de Lillo (c. 842), and Santa Cristina de Lena (c. 852), and the Mozarabic churches of the Christian kingdoms of the north. The Asturian and Mozarabic churches are characterized by rectangular plans, square apses, the use of brick and stone, the horseshoe arch, and the distinctive decorative program of carved stone and painted plaster.

In Lombard Italy, the surviving pre-Romanesque churches include the churches of the Santa Maria in Sylvis at Sesto al Reghena, the Battistero di San Giovanni at Florence, the church of the San Salvatore at Brescia, and the cathedral of the Acqui Terme. The Lombard churches are characterized by the decorative pilaster strip, the use of brick, the small windows, and the rich decorative program of carved stone.

The Influence of the Late Roman and Early Christian Traditions

The pre-Romanesque traditions all drew on the late Roman and early Christian building traditions that they had inherited. The basilica, the central-plan church, the apse, the narthex, the baptistery, the crypt, and the ambulatory were all elements of the late Roman and early Christian building vocabulary that the pre-Romanesque traditions continued to use. The technique of brick and stone construction, the use of vaulted ceilings, the mosaic decoration of the apse, the carved stone revetment of the walls, and the rich decorative program of the interiors were all elements of the late Roman and early Christian building traditions that the pre-Romanesque traditions adapted to their own purposes.

The most important influence on the pre-Romanesque traditions was the late Roman and early Christian building tradition of the great cities of the late empire — Rome, Ravenna, Milan, and Constantinople. The Carolingian and Ottonian court schools, the Anglo-Saxon and Irish monasteries, the Asturian and Mozarabic churches, and the Lombard churches all drew on the late Roman and early Christian building vocabulary in their own distinctive ways. The result was a family of regional traditions, each with its own building types, construction techniques, and decorative programs, but all sharing the inheritance of the late Roman and early Christian building vocabulary.

The Transition to Romanesque

The transition from pre-Romanesque to Romanesque architecture took place in the late tenth and eleventh centuries. The revival of monumental building under the Ottonian and Salian emperors of Germany, the great Cluniac monastic building program of the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Norman Romanesque of England and Sicily, and the regional Romanesque traditions of France, Italy, and Spain all marked the end of the pre-Romanesque period. The Romanesque style, characterized by the use of the barrel vault, the groin vault, the ribbed vault, the rounded arch, the engaged column, the decorative arcading, and the elaborate sculptural program, developed out of the pre-Romanesque traditions and prepared the way for the Gothic style of the high Middle Ages.

The Romanesque revival of the eleventh century was made possible by the political stability, the economic recovery, and the cultural confidence of the period. The great monastic reform movements of the tenth and eleventh centuries, the revival of the papacy, the development of the new mendicant orders, and the recovery of the pilgrimage routes to Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela all contributed to a great wave of new building. The Romanesque churches of the eleventh and twelfth centuries — Santiago de Compostela, Speyer, Cluny, Vézelay, Moissac, Saint-Sernin at Toulouse, and many others — are the great monuments of this revival.