William of Sens or Guillaume de Sens (died 11 August 1180) was a 12th-century French master mason and architect, believed to have been born at Sens, France. [1] He is known for rebuilding the choir of Canterbury Cathedral between 1174 and 1177, counted as the first important example of the Early Gothic Style of architecture in England, finished in 1184. [2] [3] Before Canterbury, he worked on Sens Cathedral. [2] According to one English source, he died at Canterbury [4] on 11 August 1180. [5] According to other sources, he died in France, after returning from England. [6] [7] [8]
Very little is known of the early life of William of Sens. It is believed that he learned the skills of cathedral construction working on Sens Cathedral, the first complete Gothic cathedral in France, built between 1135 and 1148, shortly before Notre-Dame de Paris. [9] William is believed to have known other early Gothic buildings at Notre-Dame de Paris, Soissons, Rheims, Cambrai, Arras, and at Notre-Dame la Grande, Valenciennes (begun 1171, destroyed in the French Revolution). [2]
His later life in England was chronicled by the monk Gervase of Canterbury, who wrote an account of the destruction by fire of the choir of Canterbury Cathedral in 1174. After the fire, the Chapter of the Cathedral organised a commission of English and French architects to recommend the best way to rebuild the choir. The ideas of William, and most likely his work on Sens Cathedral, resulted in his assignment to rebuild and enlarge the choir of Canterbury Cathedral. [10]
William is responsible for the choir eastwards of the crossing and for the western transept. [2] William planned the choir, as well as other parts of the structure which are still in place, including the flying buttresses copied from the early Gothic cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris. He introduced the six-part rib vault to the building, a key feature of Gothic architecture, which support the roof and which spread the weight downwards and outwards to the Buttresses outside and the columns below. He also introduced the use of high arcades [11] in the choir, and devised the structure which made the walls between the structural elements thinner, allowing more and larger windows which filled the church with light.[ citation needed ]
The innovations of William at Canterbury included the motif of pale Caen stone contrasted with dark column shafts of Purbeck marble, and the sexpartite rib-vaults, which form paired bays in the nave. [2] The combination of these two limestones was influential in subsequent Gothic architecture, which Canterbury helped to spread through its prominence as the episcopal see of the Primate of All England. [2]
William was working on the church in 1177 when he slipped and fell from the scaffolding, and was badly injured. [2] The chronicler Gervase recorded that the accident was "The vengeance of God or the spite of the Devil." He tried for a time to direct the reconstruction from his sickbed. He completed the eastern portion of construction but finally decided to return to France, where he died in 1180. [12] The work on Canterbury Cathedral was completed by another architect, known only as William the Englishman, who followed his plans. [13] The second William completed the eastern portion of the church, including the vaults of the choir, the eastern transept, the Trinity Chapel, and chapel of Thomas Becket. It was finished in 1184, not long after William of Sens's death. [2] The former's plans were changed by the latter to include a triforium-gallery based on the example of Laon Cathedral's. [2]
William designed a small domed chapel at the far eastern end of the Cathedral as a shrine, the Corona, (1184) dedicated to the cathedral's archbishop Thomas Becket, who had been murdered in the cathedral in 1170. Its unusual form resembles the rotundas placed in the eastern end of churches in William's native province of Burgundy. [14]
Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. It originated in the Île-de-France and Picardy regions of northern France. The style at the time was sometimes known as opus Francigenum ; the term Gothic was first applied contemptuously during the later Renaissance, by those ambitious to revive the architecture of classical antiquity.
Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site. Its formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ, Canterbury.
A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic architecture, Romanesque architecture, and especially Gothic architecture. Thin stone panels fill the space between the ribs. This greatly reduced the weight and thus the outward thrust of the vault. The ribs transmit the load downward and outward to specific points, usually rows of columns or piers. This feature allowed architects of Gothic cathedrals to make higher and thinner walls and much larger windows.
Sens is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris.
Auxerre Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church, dedicated to Saint Stephen, located in Auxerre, Burgundy, France. It was constructed between the 13th and 16th centuries, on the site of a Romanesque cathedral from the 11th century, whose crypt is found underneath the cathedral. It is known for 11th century Carolingian frescoes found in the crypt, and for its large stained glass windows. Since 1823 it has been the seat of a diocese united with that of Sens Cathedral.
Rayonnant was a very refined style of Gothic Architecture which appeared in France in the 13th century. It was the defining style of the High Gothic period, and is often described as the high point of French Gothic architecture. French architects turned their attention from building cathedrals of greater size and height towards bringing greater light into the cathedral interiors and adding more extensive decoration. The architects made the vertical columns and supports thinner, made extensive use of pinnacles and moldings. They combined the triforium gallery and the clerestory into single space and filled it with stained glass. They made extensive use of moldings and bar tracery to decorate the exteriors and interiors.
Flamboyant is a lavishly-decorated style of Gothic architecture that appeared in France and Spain in the 15th century, and lasted until the mid-sixteenth century and the beginning of the Renaissance. Elaborate stone tracery covered both the exterior and the interior. Windows were decorated with a characteristic s-shaped curve. Masonry wall space was reduced further as windows grew even larger. Major examples included the northern spire of Chartres Cathedral, Trinity Abbey, Vendôme, and Burgos Cathedral and Segovia Cathedral in Spain. It was gradually replaced by Renaissance architecture in the 16th century.
Sens Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral in Sens in Burgundy, eastern France. The cathedral, dedicated to Saint Stephen, is the seat of the Archbishop of Sens.
The larger medieval churches of France and England, the cathedrals and abbeys, have much in common architecturally, an east–west orientation, an external emphasis on the west front and its doors, long arcaded interiors, high vaulted roofs and windows filled with stained glass. The eastern end of the building contains the Sanctuary and the Altar.
Angers Cathedral is a Catholic church dedicated to Saint Maurice in Angers, France. It is the seat of the Bishops of Angers.
English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed arches, rib vaults, buttresses, and extensive use of stained glass. Combined, these features allowed the creation of buildings of unprecedented height and grandeur, filled with light from large stained glass windows. Important examples include Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral. The Gothic style endured in England much longer than in Continental Europe.
French Gothic architecture is an architectural style which emerged in France in 1140, and was dominant until the mid-16th century. The most notable examples are the great Gothic cathedrals of France, including Notre-Dame Cathedral, Reims Cathedral, Chartres Cathedral, and Amiens Cathedral. Its main characteristics are verticality, or height, and the use of the rib vault and flying buttresses and other architectural innovations to distribute the weight of the stone structures to supports on the outside, allowing unprecedented height and volume. The new techniques also permitted the addition of larger windows, including enormous stained glass windows, which fill the cathedrals with light.
The medieval cathedrals of England, which date from between approximately 1040 and 1540, are a group of twenty-six buildings that constitute a major aspect of the country's artistic heritage and are among the most significant material symbols of Christianity. Though diverse in style, they are united by a common function. As cathedrals, each of these buildings serves as central church for an administrative region and houses the throne of a bishop. Each cathedral also serves as a regional centre and a focus of regional pride and affection.
Events from the 1170s in England.
High Gothic was a period of Gothic architecture in the 13th century, from about 1200 to 1280, which saw the construction of a series of refined and richly-decorated cathedrals of exceptional height and size. It appeared most prominently in France, largely thanks to support given by King Louis IX(1226-1270). The goal of High Gothic architects was to bring the maximum possible light from the stained glass windows, and to awe the church goers with lavish decoration. High Gothic is often described as the high point of the Gothic style.
Early Gothic is the term for the first period of Gothic architecture which lasted from about 1120 until about 1200. The early Gothic builders used innovative technologies to resolve the problem of masonry ceilings which were too heavy for the traditional arched barrel vault. The solutions to the problem came in the form of the rib vault, where thin stone ribs passed the weight of the ceiling to rows of columns and outside the walls to another innovation, the flying buttress.
A pointed arch, ogival arch, or Gothic arch is an arch with a pointed crown meet at an angle at the top of the arch. Also known as a two-centred arch, its form is derived from the intersection of two circles. This architectural element was particularly important in Gothic architecture. The earliest use of a pointed arch dates back to bronze-age Nippur. As a structural feature, it was first used in eastern Christian architecture, Byzantine architecture and Sasanian architecture, but in the 12th century it came into use in France and England as an important structural element, in combination with other elements, such as the rib vault and later the flying buttress. These allowed the construction of cathedrals, palaces and other buildings with dramatically greater height and larger windows which filled them with light.
Gothic cathedrals and churches are religious buildings created in Europe between the mid-12th century and the beginning of the 16th century. The cathedrals are notable particularly for their great height and their extensive use of stained glass to fill the interiors with light. They were the tallest and largest buildings of their time and the most prominent examples of Gothic architecture. The appearance of the Gothic cathedral was not only a revolution in architecture; it also introduced new forms in decoration, sculpture, and art.
Perpendicular Gothic architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-centred arches, straight vertical and horizontal lines in the tracery, and regular arch-topped rectangular panelling. Perpendicular was the prevailing style of Late Gothic architecture in England from the 14th century to the 17th century. Perpendicular was unique to the country: no equivalent arose in Continental Europe or elsewhere in the British-Irish Isles. Of all the Gothic architectural styles, Perpendicular was the first to experience a second wave of popularity from the 18th century on in Gothic Revival architecture.
English Gothic stained glass windows were an important feature of English Gothic architecture, which appeared between the late 12th and late 16th centuries. They evolved from narrow windows filled with a mosaic of deeply-coloured pieces of glass into gigantic windows that filled entire walls, with a full range of colours and more naturalistic figures. In later windows, the figures were often coloured with silver stain, enamel paints and flashed glass. Later windows used large areas of white glass, or grisaille, to bring more light into the interiors.
As work began on the vault of the eastern part of the choir, William was incapacitated by a fall from a scaffold. He probably continued to direct the work from his sickbed, but this was impractical, and so he gave up and returned to France, where he died.