Norman architecture is the style of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used for English Romanesque architecture. The Normans introduced large numbers of castles, and at the same time monasteries, churches and cathedrals, in a style characterised by rounded arches and heavy proportions compared to other regional variations of the style. The style was developed in Normandy, and brought to England and Wales after the Norman Conquest. It was also used later by Anglo-Norman settlers in Ireland, and by Scottish rulers adopting English fashions. The Normans also conquered Sicily and southern Italy, but the architecture they used there was distinct from that of Normandy and Britain, as it blended local Islamic and Byzantine influences.
Name The use of term "Norman" to refer to architecture may have originated with eighteenth-century antiquarians, but its usage in a sequence of styles has been attributed to Thomas Rickman in his 1817 work An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture from the Conquest to the Reformation. In this work he used the labels "Norman, Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular". The more inclusive term "Romanesque" was used of the Romance languages in English by 1715, and was applied to architecture of the eleventh and twelfth centuries from 1819. The style is also referred to as 'Anglo-Norman', reflecting the substantial English contributions to its development.
History
Normandy
Viking invaders ('Northmen') arrived at the mouth of the river Seine in Normandy in 911, at a time when Franks were fighting on horseback and Frankish lords were building castles. Over the next century the population of the territory ceded to the Vikings (now called Normans) adopted these customs as well as Christianity and the langue d'oïl. Norman barons built timber castles on earthen mounds, beginning the development of motte-and-bailey castles, and great stone churches in the Romanesque style of the Franks. By 950, they were building stone keeps. The Normans were among the most travelled peoples of Europe, exposing them to a wide variety of cultural influences which became incorporated in their art and architecture. They elaborated on the early Christian basilica plan. Their churches were originally longitudinal with side aisles and an apse. They then began to add towers, as at the Church of Saint-Étienne at Caen, in 1067. This would eventually form a model for the larger English cathedrals some 20 years later, after they had invaded and conquered England.
England and Wales In England, Norman nobles and bishops had influence before the Norman Conquest of 1066, and Norman influences affected late Anglo-Saxon architecture. Edward the Confessor was brought up in Normandy and in 1042 brought masons to work on the first Romanesque building in England, Westminster Abbey. This building was entirely replaced in the 13th century, but from excavations and a depiction in the Bayeux Tapestry something of its form is known. It appears to have been derived from that of Jumièges, in Normandy. In 1051 he brought in Norman knights who built "motte" castles as a defence against the Welsh. Barring these early exceptions. Romanesque architecture was introduced to England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Normans gradually replaced every English bishop except for Wulfstan of Worcester, rebuilt every English cathedral, starting with Canterbury after a fire in 1067, and almost every monastic church, and built hundreds of new parish churches. They cemented their rule with a series of castles, to protect the new aristocracy. However, there was overlap between Anglo-Saxon and Norman architecture, as some Saxon masons worked in misunderstood versions of contemporary French architecture (as at Great Paxton and St Bene't's, Cambridge), while some Saxon features continued to be used by local masons after the Conquest (like triangular arches in the gatehouse of Exeter Castle). As few minor buildings have documentary evidence for dating, it is possible that many 'Saxon' churches, e.g. in Norfolk, are in fact 'Saxo-Norman', i.e. they post-date the Conquest. After a fire damaged Canterbury Cathedral in 1174 William of Sens, a French master mason, introduced the new Gothic architecture from France. Around 1191 Wells Cathedral and Lincoln Cathedral brought in the English Gothic style, and Romanesque architecture had virtually disappeared by the early 13th century.
Scotland Scotland also came under early Norman influence with Norman nobles at the court of King Macbeth around 1050. Malcolm III overthrew him with English and Norman assistance, and his queen, Margaret, encouraged the church. The Benedictine order founded a monastery at Dunfermline. Her sixth and youngest son, who became King David, built St. Margaret's Chapel at the start of the 12th century. He founded a series of large abbeys near the English border, of which Jedburgh and Kelso still retain significant Norman work. He may also have built the large stone keep at Carlisle Castle, which was then part of Scotland. In contrast to the imposing abbeys, the only large Scottish cathedral to have survived from Norman times is Kirkwall on Orkney, which was under Norwegian control.
Ireland The Normans first landed in Ireland in 1169, though the Irish were already building Hiberno-Romanesque churches, such as Cormac's Chapel on the Rock of Cashel. Within five years earthwork castles were springing up, and in a further five, work was beginning on some of the earliest of the great stone castles. For example, Hugh de Lacy built a motte-and-bailey castle on the site of the present day Trim Castle, County Meath, which was attacked and burned in 1173 by the Irish king Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair. De Lacy, however, then constructed a stone castle in its place, which enclosed over three acres within its walls, and this could not be burned down by the Irish. The years between 1177 and 1310 saw the construction of some of the greatest of the Norman castles in Ireland. The Normans settled mostly in an area in the east of Ireland, later known as the Pale, and among other buildings they constructed were Swords Castle in Fingal (North County Dublin) and Carrickfergus Castle in County Antrim. The term 'Norman' is also sometimes used to refer to castles like Dublin and Limerick, but architecturally these are Gothic, not Romanesque.
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