Macaulay - Cathedral

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON

CATHEDRAL

The Story of Its Construction

DAVID MCCAULAY

PREFACE

The cathedral of Chutreaux is imaginary, but the methods of its construction correspond closely to the actual construction of a Gothic cathedral. The story of its almost uninterrupted construction, however, represents a somewhat ideal situation. For owing to either financial or structural problems or both, the completion of many such undertakings was delayed for as long as two hundred years.

Although the people of Chutreaux are imaginary, their single-mindedness, their spirit, and their incredible courage are typical of the people of twelfth-, thirteenth-, and fourteenth-century Europe whose magnificent dreams still stand today.

for Janice
with special thanks
to Mary and Hardu

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Macaulay, David
Cathedral: the story of its construction.1. Cathedrals. 2. Architecture, Gothic.
I. Title.
NA4830.M32 726'.6 73-6634
ISBN 0-395-17513-5

Copyright 1973 by David Macaulay

All rights reserved. For information about permission
to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue
South, New York, New York 10003.

ISBN: 0-395-17513-5 Hardcover Edition
ISBN: 0-395-31668-5 Sandpiper Paperbound Edition

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For hundreds of years the people of Europe were taught by the church that God was the most important force in their lives. If they prospered, they thanked God for His kindness. If they suffered, they begged for God's mercy, for surely God was punishing them.

In the thirteenth century God was good to the people of France and especially to the people of Chutreaux. They had no wars to fight and the plague was gone. The weather was good for the farmers so there was plenty of food to eat, and business was good for the city's merchants. For these blessings and to help insure that He would continue to favor them, the city of Chutreaux wished to thank God. The people began to dream of building Him a new cathedral.

A new cathedral would offer a worthy resting place for the sacred remains of Saint Germain, a knight of the First Crusade whose skull and forefinger had later been sent back from Constantinople by Louis IX. Such relics as these were worshipped by people throughout Europe. And a new cathedral was an attractive idea for yet another reason. At the time the people of nearby Amiens, Beauvais, and Rouen were building new cathedrals. The people of Chutreaux did not wish to be outdone, on earth or especially in heaven.

The final decision to build a new cathedral was made in the year 1252, after lightning struck and severely damaged the old cathedral. The people of Chutreaux wished to build the longest, widest, highest, and most beautiful cathedral in all of France. The new cathedral would be built to the glory of God and it mattered little that it might take more than one hundred years to construct it.

Although the bishop was the head of the church in Chutreaux, it was the group of clergymen known as the chapter who controlled the money. It was the chapter who hired the Flemish architect William of Planz. William had gained his knowledge of architecture and engineering by visiting and working on many cathedrals not only in France but also in England and Germany. His reputation as an excellent master builder had reached Chutreaux through the returning crusaders. So he was summoned by the chapter to design and supervise the construction of the new cathedral, and to hire the master craftsmen who would work under him.

The craftsmen were the master quarryman, the master stone cutter, the master sculptor, the master mortar maker, the master mason, the master carpenter, the master blacksmith, the master roofer, and the master glass maker.

Each master craftsman ran a workshop for his own particular trade. He had many apprentices or assistants who were learning the trade in hopes of one day becoming masters themselves. Most of the heavy work was done by laborers, men with no particular skill. Some came from Chutreaux, some from the surrounding countryside, and some were working their way back from the Crusades.

Pickaxe

Hammer

Chisel

Template

Lever

Measuring Stick

Saw

Dividers

Square

Brace And Bit

Bit

Sledge Hammer And Wedges

Saw

Plane

Auger

Axe

Each workshop required specific tools. All the metal tools were made by a blacksmith, and the wooden pieces were made by skilled woodworkers. The two main workshops, and those that required the most tools, were the stone cutters' workshop and the carpenters' workshop.

FLOOR PLAN

WALL ELEVATION

In the following weeks William planned and sketched and eventually settled on his final design. He combined methods and details from the cathedrals he had seen in his travels with his instruction from the chapter to design the longest, widest, highest, and most beautiful cathedral possible. The final designs were drawn on two sheets of plaster and presented to the bishop and the chapter. On one a floor plan was drawn that showed the layout of the cathedral naming all the different areas. The second had an elevation of one wall showing the different parts of the cathedral from the ground to the topmost vault.