Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T17:34:43.210Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Rievaulx Abbey Chapter House

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2011

Peter Fergusson  and
Stuart Harrison
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The chapter house (figs, i, 2) is the most puzzling of the buildings that survive at Rievaulx Abbey, North Yorkshire — the Cistercians's first foundation in the north of England. A reconstruction based on the ruined remains shows a two storey interior supported on cylindrical columns, lower flanking aisles, and an apsed termination with a hemicycle and surrounding ambulatory (figs. 3, 4). No other chapter house in England or France shares these features. As a consequence the building has been ignored in the literature for the most part, or drawn criticism on account of its divergence from Cistercian norms. Gardner (1976, 106 n. 103), for example, in his wide-ranging study of English chapter houses categorized it as ‘bizarre’ and Gilyard-Beer (1978, 34) judged it a ‘remarkable lapse’ from Cistercian austerity. Yet the building merits greater attention. It survives as the oldest example in England of a Cistercian chapter house, a building type which, except for the conventual church, ranked as the most important in the entire monastic complex. Moreover, the visible remains can be dated to the brilliant rule of Rievaulx's third abbot, Ælred (1146–67), the pre-eminent pastoral master and spiritual writer of the High Middle Ages in Britain, under whom the community grew to the largest in the country with 640 men. Ælred's role as patron raises important questions, therefore, about the building's sources and meaning.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 74 , March 1994 , pp. 211 - 255
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acta Sanctorum n.d. Acta Sanctorum, August i, vol. 35, ParisGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, J. C. (ed.) 1889. Cartularium de abbrethiae Rievalle, Surtees Soc., 83Google Scholar
Auberger, J.-B. 1986. L'unanimityé cistercienne primitive: mythe ou réalité, AchelGoogle Scholar
Aubert, M. 1947. L'architecture cistercienne en France, 2 vols., ParisGoogle Scholar
Baines, F. 1924. ‘Preservation of Ancient Monuments’, The Builder, 28 November, 85–6Google Scholar
Beatrice, P. F. 1983. La lavanda piedi Contributo alla storia delle antiche liturgie cristiane, RomeGoogle Scholar
Beck, B. 1965–6. ‘Recherches sur les salles capitulaires en Normandie, et notamment dans les dioceses d'Avranches, Bayeux et Coutances’ Bull, de la société des antiquaires de Normandie, 58, 1–118Google Scholar
Beck, B. 1973. ‘Les salles capitulaires des abbayes de Normandie: éléments originaux de l'architecture monastique médiévale’, L'information d'histoire de l'art, 18, 204–15Google Scholar
Bilson, J. 1907. ‘The Architecture of Kirkstall Abbey church’, Publ. Thoresby Soc, 16, 127–33Google Scholar
Bloch, H. 1982. ‘The new fascination with ancient Rome’ in Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century (eds. Benson, R. L. and Constable, G.), 613–36, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Bond, E. A. (ed.) 1866. Chronica de Melsa, 3 vols., Rolls ser., LondonGoogle Scholar
Bonde, S.,Boyden, E. and Maines, C. 1990. ‘Centrality and community: liturgy and gothic chapter room design at the Augustinian abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes, Soissons’, Gesta, 29, 189–213CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boskovits, M. 1990. ‘Insegnare per immagini: dipinti e sculture nelle sale capitolari’, Arte cristiana, 78, 123–42Google Scholar
Bony, J. 1983. French Gothic Architecture of the 12th and 13th Centuries, BerkeleyCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bony, J. 1986. ‘What possible sources for the chevet of Saint Denis?’ in Abbot Suger and Saint-Denis: A Symposium (ed. Gerson, P.), 131–46, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Brakspear, H. 1901. ‘On the First Church at Furness’, Trans. Lancashire Cheshire Antiq. Soc., 18, 70–87Google Scholar
Brakspear, H. 1937. ‘Battle abbey’, Victoria County History: Sussex, ix, 103Google Scholar
Branner, R. 1960. Burgundian Gothic Architecture, LondonGoogle Scholar
Braunfels, W. 1972. Monasteries of Western Europe, PrincetonGoogle Scholar
Bredero, A. 1978. ‘The Canonization of Bernard of Clairvaux’ in Saint Bernard of Clairvaux: Studies Commemorating the Eighth Centenary of his Canonization (ed. Pennington, M. B.), 63–100, KalamazooGoogle Scholar
Butler, L. 1993. ‘Cistercian abbots’ tombs and abbey seals’, Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture, 4, 78–88Google Scholar
Cahn, W. 1988. ‘Souvigny: some problems in its architecture and sculpture’, Gesta, 27, 51–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canivez, J. M. 1933–41. Statuta capitulorum Generalium Ordinis Cisterciensis ab anno 1116 ad annum 1786, 8 vols., LouvainGoogle Scholar
Chabeuf, H. 1883–4. ‘Voyage d'un délégue au chapitre generalede Cîteaux en 1667’, Mémoires de l'academie des sciences, arts et belles-lettres de Dijon, 314–7Google Scholar
Choisselet, D. and Vernet, P. (eds. and trans.) 1989. Les écclesiastica officia Cisterciens du XIIe siècle, ReiningueGoogle Scholar
Chomton, L. 1900. Histoire de l'église Saint-Bénigne de Dijon, DijonGoogle Scholar
Clark, W. W. 1987. Laon Cathedral, LondonGoogle Scholar
Conant, K. J. 1968. Cluny: les églises et la Maison du Chef d'Ordre, Cambridge (Mass.) and MaconGoogle Scholar
Constable, G. (ed.), 1967. The Letters of Peter the Venerable, 2 vols., Cambridge (Mass.)Google Scholar
Constable, G. 1987. ‘The ceremonies and symbolism of entering religious life and taking the monastic habit, from the fourth to the twelfth Century’ in Segni e riti nella chiese altomediovale occidentale, Settimane di studio del Centro italiano dei studi sull' alto medioevi, 33, 11, 771–834, SpoletoGoogle Scholar
Coppack, G. 1986. ‘Some descriptions of Rievaulx Abbey in 1538–9: the disposition of a major Cistercian precinct in the early sixteenth century’, J. British Archaeol. Ass., 139, 100–133CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppack, G. 1993. Fountains Abbey, LondonGoogle Scholar
Coppack, G. forthcoming, 1994. ‘The Abbeys of Rievaulx and Fountains: the concept of Bernardine architecture in 12c. England’ in Mélanges Anselm Dimier (ed. Chauvin, B.), vGoogle Scholar
Coppack, G. and Gilyad-Beer, R. 1993. Fountains Abbey: North Yorkshire, LondonGoogle Scholar
C.H.R.N. 1976. Inventaire général des monuments et des richesses de la France. Eure: Canton Lyons-la-Forêt, ParisGoogle Scholar
Crossley, P. 1988. ‘Medieval architecture and meaning: the limits of iconography’, Burlington Mag., 130, 116–121Google Scholar
Dickinson, J. C. 1967. ‘Furness Abbey—an archaeological reconsideration’, Trans. Cumberland Westmorland Antiq. Archaeol. Soc., 67, 52–80Google Scholar
Didron, A. N. 1845. ‘Un grand monastere au XVIe siècle’, Annales archéologiques, 3, 236–7Google Scholar
Donnelly, J. S. 1949. The Decline of the Medieval Cistercian Laybrotherhood, Fordham University Studies History Series No. 3, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Dorrenberg, I. 1938. Das Zisterzienserkloster Maulbronn, WirzburgGoogle Scholar
Dubois, J. 1965. ‘L'institution des convers au Xlle siècle, forme de vie monastique propre aux Laics’, in I laici nella “societas Chistiana” dei secoli XI e XII. A tti della teria settimana internazionale da studio, Mendola, 183–261, MilanGoogle Scholar
Dunning, E. C. 1965. ‘Heraldic and decorated metalwork and other finds from Rievaulx abbey’, Antiq. J., 45. 53–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eydoux, H. P. 1950. Die Zisterzienerabtei Bebenhausen, TubingenGoogle Scholar
Fergusson, P. 1984. Architecture of Solitude, Cistercian Abbeys in Twelfth Century England, PrincetonGoogle Scholar
Fergusson, P., 1986. ‘The twelfth century refectories at Rievaulx and Byland abbeys’ in Cistercian Art and Architecture in the British Isles (eds. Norton, C. and Park, D.), 160–80, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Fergusson, P., 1994. ‘The Greencourt gate at the cathedral monastery of Christchurch, Canterbury’ in Das Bauwerk und die Stadt; Aufsätze für Eduard Sekler (ed. Böhm, W.), 87–97, ViennaGoogle Scholar
Fergusson, P., forthcoming, 1995. ‘Programmatic Factors in the East Extension of Clairvaux’ Speciale Arte Medievale, RomeGoogle Scholar
Fowler, J. T. (ed.) 1902. The Rites of Durham, Publ. Surtees Soc, 107, DurhamGoogle Scholar
Froidevaux, Y. M. 1966. ‘Eglise abbatiale de Lessay’, Congrès archéologique, 124, 70–82Google Scholar
Gardiner, E. (ed.) 1986. The Marvels of Rome, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Gardner, W. S. 1976. ‘The Role of Central Planning in English Romanesque Chapter House Design’, unpubl. dissertation, PrincetonGoogle Scholar
Gardner, J. 1979. ‘Andea di Bonaiuto and the Chapterhouse frescoes in Santa Maria Novella’, Art History, 2, 107–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gee, E. 1966. ‘Discoveries in the Frater at Durham’, Archaeol. J., 123, 69–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gem, R. 1986. ‘The Bishop's chapel at Hereford: the roles of patron and craftsmen’, in Arts and Patronage in the English Romanesque (eds. Macready, S. and Thompson, F. H.), 87–96, LondonGoogle Scholar
Gervers, M. 1972. ‘Rotundae Anglicanae’ in Actes du XXIIe Congrès International d'Histoire de l'Art, Budapest, 1969, 1, 359–76, BudapestGoogle Scholar
Gilyard-Beer, R. 1978. Abbeys, 2nd. edn, LondonGoogle Scholar
Gilyard-Beer, , 1987. ‘The graves of the abbots of Fountains’, Yorkshire Archaeol. J., 59, 45–50Google Scholar
Gilyard-Beer, , and Coppack, G. 1986. ‘Excavations at Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire, 1979–80: the early development of the monastery’, Archaeologia, 10, 147–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goetz, W. 1968. Zentralbau und Zentralbautendenz in der götischen Architectur, BerlinGoogle Scholar
Griesser, B. 1952. ‘Registrum Epistolarum Stephani de Lexinton,’ Analecta sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis, 8, 181–378Google Scholar
Guignard, P. 1878. Les monuments primitifs de la règle Cistercienne, DijonGoogle Scholar
Halsey, R. 1986. ‘The earliest architecture of the Cistercians in England’ in Cistercian Art and Architecture in the British Isles (ed. Norton, C. and Park, D.), 65–85, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Henriet, P. 1990. ‘Saint-Odilon devant la mort. Sur quelques données implicites du comportement religieux au Xle. Siècle’, Le Moyen Age, 96, 227–44Google Scholar
Harrison, S. 1990. Byland Abbey: North Yorkshire, LondonGoogle Scholar
Hillaby, J. 1989. “The House of Houses”: The Cistercians of Dore and the Origins of the Polygonal Chapter House’, Trans. Woolhope Natur. F. Club, 46, pt 11, 209–45Google Scholar
Hinnebusch, J. F. 1972. The Historia occidentalis of Jacques de Vitry, FribourgGoogle Scholar
Hope, W. H. St John 1884. ‘The architectural history of the Cluniac priory of St. Pancras at Lewes’, Archaeol. J., 41, 1–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hope, W. 1894. ‘Castle Acre Priory’, Norfolk and Norwich Archaeol. Soc, 1–53Google Scholar
Hope, W., 1897. ‘Notes on the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter at Gloucester,’ Archaeol. J., 54, 77–119CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hope, W., 1898–9. ‘Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire’ Yorks. Archaeol. J., 15, 269–400Google Scholar
Hope, W., 1902. The Abbey of St. Mary in Furness, KendallGoogle Scholar
Hope, W., 1907. ‘Kirkstall Abbey’ Publ. Thoresby Soc, 16, 1–72Google Scholar
Hope, W., 1914. ‘Rievaulx Abbey’ in Victoria County History: Yorkshire, North Riding, vol. 1, LondonGoogle Scholar
Hope, W., and Brakspear, H. 1911. ‘Jervaulx Abbey’, Yorks. Archaeol. J., 21, 303–44Google Scholar
Hoste, A.,Salet, G.,Raciti, G. (eds.) 1967, 1974, 1987. Isaac de l'Etoile: Sermons, 3 vols., ParisGoogle Scholar
Kemp, E. 1945. ‘Pope Alexander III and the Canonisation of Saints’, Trans. Royal Hist. Soc, 4th series, 27, 13–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kemp, E. 1948. Canonisation and Authority in the Western Church, LondonGoogle Scholar
Knowles, D. 1963. The Historian and Character, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Knowles, D. 1967. Decreta Lanfranci Monachis Cantuariensibus Transmissa Corpus Consuetudinum Monasticarum cura Pontificii Athenaei Sancti Anselmi, in, SiegburgGoogle Scholar
Krautheimer, R. 1969a. ‘Introduction to an iconography of medieval architecture’ in Studies in Early Christian, Medieval and Renaissance Art (R. Krautheimer), 115–50, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Krautheimer, R. 1969b. ‘Mensa-Coemeterium-Martyrium’ in Studies in Early Christian, Medieval, and Renaissance Art (R. Krautheimer), 35–58, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Krautheimer, R., 1980. Rome Profile of a City 312–1308, PrincetonGoogle Scholar
Lecoy de la Marche, L. 1867. Oeuvres completes de Suger, Societé de l'histoire de la France, 139, ParisGoogle Scholar
Lefèvre, J. A. 1955. ‘L'évolution des “Usus Conversorum” de Cîteaux’, Collectanea Ordinis Cisterciensium Reformatorum, 17, 65–97Google Scholar
Lenssen, S. 1939, 1940, 1948. ‘Apercu historique sur la vénération des saints Cisterciens dans l'ordre de Cîteaux’, Collectanea ordinis Cisterciensis reformatorum, 6 (1939), 7–35, 167–95; 7 (1940) 73–94; 10 (1948), 6–18Google Scholar
Martène, E. and Durand, U. 1717. Voyage littéraire de deux religieux bénédictins de la Congrégation Saint-Maur, 1, ParisGoogle Scholar
McCann, J. 1952. The Rule of St Benedict, LondonGoogle Scholar
McGuire, B. P. 1988. Friendship and Community: the Monastic Experience, 350–1250, KalamazooGoogle Scholar
Migne, J.-P. 1844–64. 1854a, b, 1855a, b, c. Patrologia Cursus Completus, Series Latina, CLXXIII (1854a), CLXXXIV (1854b), CLXXXV (1855a), exev (1855b), ccxii (1855c), 22i vols., ParisGoogle Scholar
Norton, C. and Park, D. (eds.), 1986. Cistercian Art and Architecture in the British Isles, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Panofsky, E. 1979. Abbot Suger on the church of St. Denis and its art treasures, 2nd edn, PrincetonGoogle Scholar
Peers, C. R. 1906. ‘Peterborough Cathedral’ in Victoria County History: Northamptonshire, LondonGoogle Scholar
Peers, C. R. 1912. ‘Winchester Cathedral’, Victoria County History: Hampshire, v, LondonGoogle Scholar
Peers, C. R., 1921. ‘Two relic-holders from altars in the nave of Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire’, Antiq. J., i, 271–82CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peers, C. R., 1928. Rievaulx Abbey: North Yorkshire, LondonGoogle Scholar
Peers, C. R., 1929. ‘Rievaulx Abbey, the shrine in the Chapter House’, Archaeol. J., 86, 20–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pevsner, N. 1953. The Buildings of England: County Durham, LondonGoogle Scholar
Pevsner, N., 1958a. The Buildings of England: Somerset and Bristol, LondonGoogle Scholar
Pevsner, N., 1958b. The Buildings of England: Shropshire, LondonGoogle Scholar
Pevsner, N., 1966. The Buildings of England, Yorkshire, North Riding, LondonGoogle Scholar
Piva, P. 1980. Da Cluny a Polirone, Bibliotecca Polironiana di fonti e studi, 4, San Benedetto PoGoogle Scholar
Powicke, F. M. 1931. ‘Maurice of Rievaulx,’ Eng. Hist. Rev., 36, 17–25.Google Scholar
Powicke, F. M. (ed. and trans.), 1951. The Life of Ailred of Rievaulx by Walter Daniel, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Raine, J. (ed.) 1963. The Priory of Hexham, Publ. Surtees Soc, 1, DurhamGoogle Scholar
Richardson, J. S. 1947. The Abbey of Dundrennan, EdinburghGoogle Scholar
Richardson, J. S. and WOOD, M. 1949. Melrose Abbey Roxburghshire, EdinburghGoogle Scholar
Rietzenstein, A. F. von, 1934–5. ‘Die Baugeschichte des Bamberger Domes’, Münchner Jahrbuch des Bildenden Kunst, II, 113–52Google Scholar
Robertson-Mackay, R. 1957. ‘Recent excavations at the Cluniac priory of St. Mary, Thetford, Norfolk,’ Medieval Archaeol., 1, 96–103CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schafer, T. 1956. Die Fusswaschung im monastischen Brauchtum und in der lateinischen Liturgie. Liturgiesgeschichtliche Untersuchung, BeuronGoogle Scholar
Scholz, B. 1961. ‘The Canonization of Edward the Confessor’, Speculum, 36, 38–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sejalon, A. R. P. 1892. Nomasticon Cisterciense, SolesmesGoogle Scholar
Squire, A. 1960. ‘The Literary Evidence for the Preaching of Ælred of Rievaulx I’, Citeaux Commentarii Cislercienses, 11, 165–79Google Scholar
Stalley, R. 1987. The Cistercian Monasteries of Ireland, LondonGoogle Scholar
Stratford, N. 1975 [1978]. ‘Notes on the Norman Chapterhouse at Worcester’ in Medieval Art and Architecture at Worcester Cathedral, British Archaeol. Ass. Con. Trans., 51–70, LeedsGoogle Scholar
Stratford, N. 1992. ‘Les bâtiments de l'abbaye de Cluny à l'époque médiévale: Etat des questions’, Bulletin Monumental, 150, 383–411CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talbot, C. H. (ed.), 1952. Sermones inediti B. Ælredi Abbatis Rievallensis, RomeGoogle Scholar
Tatton-Brown, T. 1991. ‘The buildings and topography of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury’, J. British Archaeol. Ass., 144, 61–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thurlby, M. forthcoming, 1994. ‘Some Design Aspects of Kirkstall Abbey’ in British Archaeol. Ass. Conference Trans.: York, 1988, LeedsGoogle Scholar
Toubert, H. 1970. ‘Le rénouveau paléochretien à Rome au début du Xlle siècle’, Cahiers archéologiques, 20, 99–154Google Scholar
Valentini, R. and Zucchetti, G. (eds.) 1946. Codice topografico dell Citta di Roma 3, Fonti per la storia d'ltalia, 90, RomeGoogle Scholar
Wacher, J. S. 1965. ‘Cirencester Abbey’, Archaeol. J., 122, 206–7Google Scholar
Waddell, C. 1982. ‘The reform of the liturgy from a renaissance perspective’ in Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century (eds. Benson, R. L. and Constable, G.), 88–109, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Whittingham, A. B. 1951. ‘Bury St. Edmunds Abbey’, Archaeol. J., 108, 168–87Google Scholar
Willis, R. 1869. ‘The Architectural History of the Conventual Buildings of Christ Church in Canterbury’, Archaeol. Cantiana, 7, 1–206Google Scholar
Zarnecki, G. 1986. ‘Sculpture in stone in the English romanesque art exhibition’ in Art and Patrongage in the Enlish Romanesque (eds. Macready, S. and Thompson, F. H.), 7–27, LondonGoogle Scholar