Assignment due Sunday, November 11 at 9pm (Pacific Time)

Once again, I'd like to come back to the matter of the Aesthetic Imperative—the irresistible force that makes human decorate things. And during the period we have been studying this week, they did just that. In particular, the people of Early Medieval Europe produced a number of remarkable churches in what we now call the Romanesque style. Sometimes, these structures were very plain, and sometimes they were very elaborate, but they had a lot of qualities in common, qualities that reflect the character and personality of the people of the time.

So, for this week's discussion, I'd like you to look at some examples of Romanesque architecture and tell me what they tell you about the character and personality of the people of the time. To help you along, I want you to visit an excellent web site that I have used before in this course: Sacred Destinations.

Click here to go to the Sacred Destinations homepage for Romanesque architecture. There you will find two succinct sections that I want you to review: "What Is Romanesque Architecture?" and "Characteristics of Romanesque Architecture." You can read them very quickly, and they will be your lifeline for this discussion.

Next, I want you to find an example of a church from the Early Medieval Period (that means Europe and that means it was built during the time frame of this unit). The Sacred Destinations site has links and pix on their site. Just scroll down. Or, you are welcome to do a Google search to find something that catches your interest.

When you've found an image you like, then I want you think about what the people who built that church were thinking. Yes, I know, they were showing their devotion to God. You don't build a church to show your devotion to fishing. That's not what I want to know. I want you to tell me, instead, about the character and personality of the people who lived during the period we have been studying—their values (but not their religiousvalues; that's too obvious and too easy), their fears, their worries, what they seemed to be proud of, what they thought was important, and (here's a BIG hint) what they apparently didn't think was important. In other words, I want you to try to "read the building." The people who built it are showing you who they were. Look at the details.

(Shaking your head? Not understanding me? Okay, what church to you go to? Or if you don't attend church, think about a church you have been in recently. What do the decorations, the colors, the seat cushions, the tapestries, the front entrance, the planting, the altar design, etc., suggest to you about the values of the people who worship there? See, those things tell you a lot!)

When you've got some ideas, start your post by writing down the particulars of your chosen building as best you can discover them. I want to know where the building is and when it was built. Then, I need a picture. Assuming you are using a PC, hover your mouse pointer over the picture you want to use, then right click and copy the image location (the URL). Then look at the toolbar running across the top of the reply window. As before, click on the little icon that looks like a tree. That will open a dialogue box where you and right click again and paste the URL. That will link the picture to your post. (Or you may be able to copy and paste the image, too.)

The picture below is Durham Cathedral from the Sacred Destinations site. I followed the directions I described above to place that picture below. (And then I centered it using the formatting option on the same toolbar.)

Then write your post. Don't describe the building or tell me its history. Tell me about the people who built it, and to back up your ideas, refer to specific details of the building (preferably in the picture you have chosen). Tell me about the character and personality of the people. Use your imagination, but you already know a lot about those people from the information covered in this unit.

As always, your post must contain at least 200 words, and it must use at least five of the red vocabulary terms from this week's study unit. If you pick the same picture or the same building that somebody else posted before you post, you need to be sure that your description of the character and personality of the people is vastly different from what the other person posted.

This is the picture that I would like to use for my Romanesque Aritechture. The website that you can get more information from is:

These are the words from my vocabulary terms.

  1. Leutitia
  2. Merovingian Dynasty
  3. Burgundy
  4. Aquitaine
  5. Charles Martel
  6. Moor
  7. Saracen
  8. Battle of Tours
  9. Pepin
  10. Lombards
  11. Adrian I
  12. Leo III
  13. Treaty of Verdun
  14. Clovis
  15. the “Donation of Pepin
  16. Charlemagne
  17. Lindisfarne
  18. the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
  19. Normandy
  20. Otto the Great
  21. Hugh Capet
  22. Magyars
  23. St. Anthony
  24. anchorite
  25. Benedict
  26. Monte Cassino
  27. The Rule of Benedict
  28. Cistercians
  29. Gregory I
  30. The Venerable Bede
  31. St. Cuthbert

32.Feudalism and Manorialism

  1. Durindana
  2. Gregorian chant
  3. Boethius
  4. Gregory of Tours
  5. Hrotswitha
  6. The Song of Roland
  7. the Pectoral Cross

40.Romanesque Architecture

  1. Vezelay
  2. ambulatory