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Roman
Beauvais: Beauvais is located
in the Thérain valley of Picardie, at the intersection of roads leading
to Amiens, Soissons, and Paris. At the time of the Roman conquest, the region
was occupied by the Bellovaci, a Belgic tribe who, as Caesar notes in his
Gallic Wars (Bk. II, ch. 13), had a small settlement called
Bratuspantium in the immediate area of Beauvais (R. Bedon et al 1988).
The Roman town, known as Caes aromagus, was the chief town of the civitas
of Belgica. Caesaromagus, organized on an orthogonal
plan (fig.1), was probably divided into insulae, or city blocks, measuring
100 x 100m. The Cardo ran SW-NE along rues Desgraux, Sadi Carnot, and Gambetta,
while the Decumanus can be traced along the rue St. Pierre. Roman remains
include upper-class houses, wells, 2nd century baths, a public hypocaust,
a glass manufactury, an amphitheater, and just to the east of the cathedral,
a large 3rd century exedra or fountain. Remains of a sacred site known
as a fanum have been found beneath the Abbey of St. Lucien (R. Bedon
et al. 1988). Fig.1: Roman Beauvais (Caesaromagus)
overlaid on a modern city street plan, showing the typical Roman gridded
street pattern, with the cathedral built within the fortified wall. Renovations to the town occurred during the Severan era (AD 146-211), due
in part to incursions of the Chauci, a Germanic tribe, between 170 and 175.
Invasions in the second half of the 3rd century prompted the construction
of a rampart around the town. Some traces of its foundations are still extant,
and two of its gates (porte du Limason and porte du Chastel) have been located.
In 320, the Emperor Constantine visited the town.
Saint-Pierre Cathedral: According
to legend, the bishopric of Beauvais was founded by Saint Lucien, first bishop
of Beauvais, in the 3rd century AD. During the following centuries, a series
of churches were erected on the tomb of St. Lucien, the site today’s
Gothic cathedral. The latest of these was the Romanesque church called Basse
Oeuvre, built during the second half of the 10th century. Some remains
are still preserved along the western end of the Gothic cathedral. A fire
in 1180 and again in 1225 caused considerable damage to the Basse
Oeuvre. After the fire of 1225, it was decided to replace the old church
with a new Gothic cathedral, one of the last and most ambitious to be built
in Picardie (fig.1).
The cathedral chapter and Bishop Milon de Nanteuil (1217-1234) thus commissioned
an architect to create a new cathedral dedicated to St. Pierre. Together
they designed a layout of a cathedral which would become the largest and
highest yet known in the world.
According to Stephen Murray (1989), the construction of the new cathedral may have been partly
intended as an act of defiance against the French crown. Confrontations
between the
powerful northern barons allied with the bishop and the bourgeoisie siding
with the king were typical at that time. Bishop Milon de Nanteuil was loosely
connected with the northern barons who revolted against King Louis VIII,
and even unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap his son Louis IX.
The plan to create such a massive cathedral may have been a tactic used by
the bishop to assert his independence from the king. Due to both the lack
of funds and severe constructional flaws, however, these plans could only
partly be achieved. While still unfinished, the overly grandiose cathedral
collapsed in 1284. Although only the transept and choir survives today, it
nevertheless remains one of the most impressive Gothic buildings.
 Beauvais cathedral (fig.2) marks the climax of Gothic architecture, and provides
a radical example of its technical limits. The architect of Beauvais cathedral
here pushed those limits, while using a bold experiment with new construction
techniques. The experiment failed when the design surpassed technical
feasibility. Even today specialists struggle with the problem of stabilizing
the cathedral, with braces still visible in the transept.
Fig.2: West façade of Beauvais cathedral
(photo: Athena Review). Cathedral Exterior: The transept
façades were designed by Martin Chambiges (1460-1532), who applied
the then fashionable late Gothic Flamboyant style. Chambiges accentuated
the south façade by designing a large rose window, which is integrated
into a huge lancet tracery window. Five smaller lancets and a glazed gallery
form the bottom of the wide opening. The façade’s gable, the
spandrels beside the window zone, and the tympanum of the portal are decorated
with a dense network of filigree mullions or vertical bars (Bony 1983). Two
slender flanking towers, decorated with canopies, frame the façade
and show the influence of the emerging Renaissance style. Scenes from the
life of Saint Peter and Paul decorate the 16th century wooden doors of the
south portal.
Both transept façades were completed during the mid-16th century.
Since then, the south transept façade has served as the main entrance
of the cathedral. During the same time, the bishop and cathedral chapter
of Beauvais decided to crown the cathedral’s crossing with a tall lantern
tower surpassing the height of the vaultings by another 105 m, thus reaching
the incredible height of 153 m. It became the highest tower in Christendom.
To realize these ambitious plans, another architect, Jean Vast, was entrusted
with the further improvements to the cathedral in1564.
References:
Bedon, R., P. Pinon, and R. Chevalier. 1988. Architecture et Urbanisme
en Gaule Romain, Tome 2. Paris, Éditions Errance.
Bony, J. 1983. French Gothic Architecture of the 12th and 13th
Centuries. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, University of California
Press.
Eakin, E. 10/27/2001. “Cybersleuths Take on the Mystery of
the Collapsing Colussus.” The New York Times.
Murray, S. 1989. Architecture of Transcendence. Princeton, NJ,
Princeton University Press.
This article appears on pages 71-73 of Vol.4 No.2 of Athena
Review. .
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