The Engineering of Medieval Cathedrals

by Courtenay,Lynn

• ISBN13: 9780860787501
• ISBN10: 0860787508
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-12-28
• Publisher: Variorum

Summary

The great cathedrals and churches of the medieval West continue to awe. How were they built, and why do they remain standing? What did their builders know about what they were doing? These questions have given rise to considerable controversy, which is fully reflected in the papers selected here. The first section of the book is concerned with the medieval builders and their design methods; the second focuses on engineering issues in the context of the infamous collapse of the choir at Beauvais in 1284. The following papers extend the analysis into the 15th century, looking for example at Brunelleschi's dome for Florence Cathedral, and deal with the often neglected structures of roofs, towers and spires.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii-ix	(2)
General Editor's Preface	xi-xii	(1)
Introduction	xiii-xxxviii	(25)
PART ONE -- HISTORIOGRAPHY AND SCOPE	1	(26)
1 Robert Willis, Viollet-le-Duc and the structural approach to Gothic architecture	1	(14)
Robert Mark
2 On the rubber vaults of the Middle Ages and other matters	15	(12)
J. Heyman
PART TWO -- MEDIEVAL BUILDERS AND THEIR METHODS	27	(114)
3 The geometrical knowledge of mediaeval master masons	27	(36)
Lon R. Shelby
4 Villard de Honnecourt, Reims, and the origin of Gothic architectural drawing	63	(18)
Robert Branner
5 The tracing floor of York Minster	81	(6)
J.H. Harvey
6 Late Gothic structural design in `instructions' of Lorenz Lechler	87	(20)
Lon R. Shelby
R. Mark
7 The ground plan of Norwich Cathedral and the square root of two	107	(10)
Eric Fernie
8 The stonework planning of the first Durham master	117	(16)
Jean Bony
9 Archaeology and engineering: the foundations of Amiens Cathedral	133	(8)
S. Bonde
C. Maines
R. Mark
PART THREE VAULTS AND THEIR SUPPORTS: STRUCTURAL ARCHAEOLOGY AND ENGINEERING ANALYSIS	141	(120)
10 The collapse of 1284 at Beauvais Cathedral	141	(28)
S. Murray
11 Beauvais Cathedral	169	(22)
J. Heyman
12 The structural behaviour of medieval ribbed vaulting	191	(12)
K.D. Alexander
R. Mark
J.F. Abel
13 Fan vaulting	203	(16)
Walter C. Leedy, Jr.
14 `Ars mechanica': Gothic structure in Italy	219	(16)
Elizabeth Bradford Smith
15 Brunelleschi's dome of S. Maria del Fiore and some related structures	235	(26)
Rowland J. Mainstone
PART FOUR ROOF, TOWERS, AND SPIRES	261	(90)
16 A comment on the function of the upper flying buttress in French Gothic architecture	261	(22)
John F. Fitchen
17 The high roofs of the east end of Lincoln Cathedral	283	(30)
N.D.J. Foot
C.D. Litton
W.G. Simpson
18 Viollet-le-Duc and the fleche of Notre-Dame de Paris: Gothic carpentry of the 13th and 19th centuries	313	(14)
Lynn T. Courtenay
19 Building the tower and spire of Salisbury Cathedral	327	(24)
Tim Tatton-Brown
Index	351