Buildings of Medieval Europe

Studies in Social and Landscape Contexts of Medieval Buildings

Duncan Berryman, Sarah Kerr, Duncan Berryman, Sarah Kerr

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781785709722
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Histoire de l'architecture

This volume brings together an interesting range of papers discussing medieval buildings across Europe. They provide interesting insights to life in the medieval world in several understudied areas of Europe. The papers range from Croatia and Transylvania in the east, Scandinavia in the north and Britain in the west, providing insights into areas that are rarely discussed by books published in western Europe. There is comprehensive range in size and status of buildings, from the smallest, single-roomed house in Byzantine Serbia and rural homes in central Europe to churches in Sweden and monastic hospitals in England. Buildings of high status and low status are discussed, as well as those of a secular and ecclesiastic nature. Materials and craftspeople are considered through a study of brick makers and their identifying marks. This volume aims to open discussions about medieval buildings beyond simply architectural features and typologies, and furthers the discipline through this process. Buildings can reveal details of the lives of their occupants and therefore enrich our knowledge of life in medieval Europe.

Chapter 1

Introduction

Duncan Berryman and Sarah Kerr

This volume brings together a range of innovative studies of medieval buildings from across Europe. The concept for this work and the resulting papers began life as a session at the 2016 annual conference of the European Archaeological Association in Vilnius, Lithuania. Due to the range and quality of papers it was decided that publication was required to bring the new studies to a wider audience than could fit into the conference room during the session. The intention of the session was to provide a focus for discussion of medieval buildings from an archaeological perspective, particularly presenting new approaches to buildings and highlighting recent excavations and surveys. The majority of papers presented at the session are included in this collection. This volume is the result of considerable interest in the topic and includes papers from across Europe; a particular strength is the contributions from eastern Europe, which is often underrepresented in the literature of western Europe. This book is not a survey of building types across Europe or an in-depth study of European architecture; it aims to be a starting point for wider discussions of medieval buildings. The studies presented here highlight new methods and directions for the discipline and it is hoped that they will stimulate debate within medieval building scholarship. Since the session in 2016, there has been a subsequent session at the 2017 European Archaeological Association in Maastricht, The Netherlands, and similar sessions are planned for future conferences. These sessions and publications provide welcome opportunities to discuss and explore the subject of medieval buildings and expand our knowledge with new discoveries.

The papers in this book have been divided into two parts based on their geographic focus. The first part looks at Scandinavia and Britain; while the second concentrates on central and eastern Europe. This structure brings together complimentary papers and reveals similarities and contrasts across Europe. The papers span a range of social strata, from the upper levels of society and their associated buildings to low-status buildings and common people. The discipline of buildings archaeology is distinct from both archaeology and architectural history, yet connected to both; therefore it is broad in its scope, and a selection of its themes are covered in this volume.

Scholarly research on medieval buildings has favoured high-status examples due to the availability of extant remains above ground and associated documents relating to their construction. The result is a focus on the interpretation of materials, location, and architecture as physical manifestations of wealth, authority, and social status. The discipline in its current stance has moved away from unquantifiable descriptors such as ‘status’ embracing instead meaning, movement, interaction, and the senses including heat, sound, and sight (e.g. Giles 2007). Whether or not these themes are less abstract than the former is debateable; however, exploring these complex ideas focuses the study on everyday experiences of those associated with buildings, and thus contributes to a better understanding of medieval society. This approach can be described most concisely by Johnson as the study of the ‘lived experience’ (Johnson 2013, 381), encompassing the shift of emphasis from function to meaning; a theme uniting the papers in this volume.

Medieval buildings are recognised increasingly as among Europe’s most significant assets. The discipline of buildings archaeology has grown in-line with this and in doing so includes a more diverse group of contributors including, but not limited to, architectural historians, architects, professional archaeologists, conservators, and academics; the result is a constantly evolving subject and greater interdisciplinarity. Despite the importance of interdisciplinarity, it is not without its problems. A lack of clarity on definitions, theory and common ground is the result of poor communication between disciplines; and this problem persists across all academic research. In archaeology, interdisciplinarity has been most successful in the study of space. The work of Hillier and Hanson (1984; also Hillier 1996), Rapoport (1969; 1990) and Markus (1982) provided the spatial-analysis framework to further the discipline of buildings archaeology. It was adopted eagerly by archaeologists, particularly from 1970s, more readily by prehistorians in these early decades. Spatial analysis is not restricted to the study of buildings, indeed it is often used to analyse artefact distribution; however buildings control and use space more so than any other remnant from the past, consequently spatial analysis is particular relevant to the discipline. Faulkner pioneered the use of spatial analysis in the medieval context in the seminal paper on planning analysis of 14th-century castles (Faulkner 1963). In the 1990s, Fairclough published the key publication on the use of spatial analysis on late medieval castles which delved into the complexities of access; this galvanized the study of space within medieval buildings (Fairclough 1992). Spatial analysis has since been used to study nunneries and monasteries (Gilchrist 1994), urban buildings (King 2009), and noble households (Weikert 2014). Therefore the use of spatial analysis has percolated the discipline of buildings archaeology and now is readily used in the analysis of small, low-status buildings. This has propelled discussions away from the dichotomies of buildings’ architecture, such as the vernacular and polite (e.g. Brunskill 2000), military and domestic, the rise and decline. Rather, the contribution of buildings to the understanding of medieval society in now fully recognised and discussions reflect on a broader view of medieval life, including attitudes to authority, privacy and gender (for example Richardson 2003).

Underpinning many of the building interpretations discussed in this volume is the implicit assumption that there was something more fundamental at work in the motivation for creating a structure in a particular way. To discover this the researchers expand their study beyond utilitarian function. The papers included contribute to the current trend of moving away from traditional methods and consider life of those who lived or worked in and around the buildings, alongside the physical structure.

The common theme running through these papers is the role of buildings in the daily lives of medieval people. The studies by Vařeka and Steinborn in Central Europe and Byzantium show how common people lived in both urban and rural contexts and elucidate some elements of their daily lives. The three-compartment house in eastern Central Europe does not have three distinct rooms, rather there are three conceptually different zones and Vařeka’s approach explores sub-types based on separation-contact analysis. The one-room house in Serbia has similarly defined zones, as Steinborn assigns dwelling and economic descriptors to guide the discussion and analysis. Each author postulates the difficulties analysing such buildings; however through exploring the extant archaeology the papers deliver an enriched understanding of the medieval people and how their buildings were an integral part of their daily and economic lives.

Three-compartment houses in eastern Central Europe remain in use today, although occupation in these traditional buildings has declined since the 20th century. Building on the extensive archaeological, ethnological, historical an d linguistic research undertaken in the last one hundred years on this type of building, Vařeka focuses on the development of the typology. The paper explores the earliest examples of such, comparing attributes and discussing the possibilities of its development, while considering critically the diffusionist explanation versus the autochthonous hypothesis. This geographically and temporally broad paper includes examples from the Slavic cultural tradition of Bohemia and Moravia, Poland, Slovakia, north-eastern Germany, central Germany, north-eastern Bavaria, Austria and Hungary, summarising a large body of work in the process. By discussing the multiple variations of the three-compartment house, Vařeka evaluates the cultural and social significance of the type and the concept of a house as both a dwelling and economic zone, within the broader context of rural housing in Central Europe.

A multi-room or compartment house provides opportunity for a number of methods of analysis, such as access analysis, to determine the specialisation of each space. However, when a small single-celled house is discovered in excavation its possibilities relating to function and use may seem somewhat endless. Steinborn confronts this quandary of spatial ambiguity by using the idea of ‘household’ as a functionalist strategy in a middle range theoretical approach. The difficulties of analysing a small space and attempting to relate it to medieval society are noted, however Steinborn conveys the connection between the small unit and the wider medieval community. The position of the house, almost pressed against the fortification wall, reveals a change in function of the city itself; while the waste disposal methods within and outside the house may reveal a weak hold of the administrative powers. After evaluating the finds, stratigraphy and wider context, in what may have been the Imperial city Iustiniana Prima, Steinborn considers the tendency in archaeological analysis to view space as male-centric due to certain artefacts. It is argued that this humble house with evidence of an attic probably used as accommodation space, could have been occupied by a single person of either sex.

Castles, forts, and hospitals were used rarely by the majority of the population, but for those who lived in them they were the theatre of their daily life. The site of Petropilosa, in the north of the Istrian peninsula in present-day Croatia, developed through the high- to post-medieval period and its excavation revealed a snapshot of life in a feudal fortification. Višnjić’s interdisciplinary study of what is described as ‘eminently distinguishable development of … architecture’, stratigraphical, artefactual, and historical data, contributes greatly to the knowledge of high medieval Istria. This is an under-studied period of Istria, despite excellent preservation below and above ground; therefore this study furthers the discipline in this area. The complete analysis of the fortress directs focus on life-altering events rather than the daily life of medieval society. A selection of coins, coinciding with a substantial burnt layer have been discussed together with attacks on the fortress cited in historical documents, specifically the conflict between the Aquileian patriarch and Kopar, Count of Gorizia in the 13th century. Višnjić provides an in-depth evaluation of Petropilosa; as a prime example of the feudal fortifications which line the Istrian peninsula, this study is a paragon for the interpretation of the broader area.

The study of high-status buildings contributes a different perspective on medieval life as the focus is often on a single person: a patron, a lord, a king. However, high status buildings had a community which affected their creation, plan and use. Churches were the product of belief and wealth, each element was a display of status usually of the founder; however, in turn they influenced the medieval community. Istrate explores this symbiotic relationship between church and community through focusing on the ruined, multi-phase church uncovered in Alba Iulia, Transylvania. This borderland, between Byzantine Christianity, the steppe and Latin Europe, has a complicated history of occupation and change which altered the community, religion and architecture; the results of which can be seen in the remains of ecclesiastical buildings. As the oldest medieval church discovered north of the Lower Danube the results from the excavation and architectural survey, of what is now St Michael’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, offer a detailed insight into the complex multi-ethic and multi-religious Carpathian Basin.

The meeting of different, and at times opposing, cultural powers created areas of unique social, political and cultural relationships which can be identified in the remains of buildings above or below ground. The great powers of Byzantine Christianity and Latin Europe met in Transylvania transforming the area; the results of which are discernible in the rebuilding, altering and destruction of the church in Alba Iulia. Cultural confluences occurred on considerably smaller scales, as small groups travelling between regions created cultural assimilation also discernible in the archaeological record. In the study of medieval roof trusses in Sweden, the cultural connections are not apparent immediately; however Gullbrandsson deliberates the relationships with other Scandinavian practices which may have resulted in the progression away from the timbering technique of sprättäljning in the 14th century. Unlike the broad cultural transmission as discussed in Vařeka’s and Istrate’s papers, this is a small-scale cultural confluence as local craftsmen merged with imported masons, working alongside each other and incorporating the Nordic carpenter traditions with Romanesque roof trusses. Gullbrandsson identifies the influences from other cultures, including France, through the survey of preserved roof trusses dating from the 12th to 14th centuries. The survival of 12th and 13th century roof trusses is of particular importance as they are scarcely preserved outside Scandinavia.

High-status buildings were at times the setting for life-altering, stand-alone events, such as the capture and demolition of Petrapilosa in the 13th century as discussed in Višnjić’s paper. Likewise they can be demonstrations of a massive transformation in the community such as religious conversion in Transylvania as described by Istrate. Medieval life could be less volatile even in large-scale, multiple-occupancy medieval buildings as Huggon explores through the study of English hospitals. Once again we see the communication of ideas between cultures evidenced in buildings as the development of English hospitals reveals they were formalised by the Normans in the 11th century then evolved, adding elements of Anglo-Saxon religious and social ideology. This paper builds upon previous studies on medieval buildings and the organisation of space through the discussion of functional spaces and how they interact and relate to each other. Huggon considers the plans of a number of hospitals and how they functioned as both practical buildings and religious spaces, demonstrating the importance of reassessing previously studied buildings through new techniques as the discipline progresses: the result is new interpretations of the English medieval hospital. A framework for understanding hospitals, which often appear to have little in the way of direct similarity, allows a new perspective from which to view them: the intent of those who built them and the result as experienced by those who lived in them. Through analysis of space Huggon postulates the ideological motivations for the organisation of hospitals in particular ways, which surpass restrictions of space and functional requirements. This includes discussion on the imbued meaning within buildings, in which activity and movement is informed and controlled by implicit signs, signals and surfaces.

This subtle influencing, almost lost to the modern audience due to excavation and survival bias, is in contrast to the obscured yet in a way more explicit messages on the Finnish bricks discussed in Aalto’s paper. The parallel connecting English medieval hospitals and Finnish bricks is the transfer of meaning from building to audience. Both Aalto and Huggon reflect on the difficulties faced when deciphering these medieval messages. Aalto discusses how in a society in which few people were literate these symbols were indicators of production allowing the brickmakers to quantify, and thus receive payment for, their output. Through the act of drawing into wet brick, identification of who made the brick was clear; however by evaluating the context of signs in the medieval Scandinavia, Aalto discusses the potential secondary meanings, such a devotional prayer.

A number of papers address the relationship between the buildings and the associated community, such as Aalto’s analysis of brickmakers’ names and the attributes of saints. Huggon’s discussion of the community associated with medieval hospitals discovers it was a transect through medieval society; it included the religious and secular, men and women, and the wealthy and poor. Similarly, the harbourside of medieval Copenhagen had a diverse community due to the curious close composition of maritime industrial buildings, elite private housing, administrative buildings, and the royal castle situated to the south. Whatley discusses the results of excavations around the medieval harbour of Copenhagen, which exposed a significant development to facilitate trade before the 15th century. The weighing house was a place in which people worked and spent much of their day, thus providing an insight into their working lives. The community associated with the weighing house lived alongside the elite residents who migrated to take advantage of the high-status goods entering the city. This accelerated Copenhagen’s development into a Scandinavian metropolis, evidenced by the rebuilding of the weighing house and associated finds including Chinese porcelain and Portuguese cork.

Civic buildings were constructed to act as central points for trade, controlling taxes and money due to the authorities. Whatley describes how the weighing house had a crucial role in society, and the development, modernisation and expansion of Copenhagen, at a time when the king resided more frequently there from 1400 onwards. There are similar administrative buildings elsewhere in Europe, all of which have associations with the Hanseatic League, demonstrating that Copenhagen was modernising through contacts across Europe, thus becoming a centre of the Scandinavian world.

These papers create new debates in medieval buildings studies and assist the development of new ways to interpret buildings. Many discussions postulate the meaning of the building and at times argue the importance of meaning over function, at least the equal importance of both to understanding the building. As the discipline of medieval buildings studies develops this volume contributes to the understanding of the lived experience.

These studies illuminate new discoveries and recent research from across Europe, bringing it to a wider audience. The study of medieval buildings has a long tradition in archaeology. It is important that its study continues, and these papers give an enco...