The Lost Fort
My Travel and History Blog, Focussing mostly on Roman and Mediaeval Times
Trees and Old Stones
One of my favourite combinations. It can be found in the middle of York. The stones may not come as surprise, lol, but there's an entire park hidden behind a wall that stretches down to the Ouse: the Museum Gardens.
Museum Gardens with ruins of St.Mary's AbbeyThe Museum Gardens were opened together with the York Museum in 1830. The Yorkshire Philosophical Society commissioned the museum, and they were also interested to preseve the ruins of St.Mary's Abbey which they had excavated in the 1820ies.
Another view of trees and the abbeyThe society appointed the landscape architect Sir John Murray Naysmith to lay out a botanical garden with exotic trees and plants and integrate the Mediaeval and Roman remains. In Victorian times, the garden also held a conservatory for orchids and a pond with water lilies. Those are gone, but the ten acre park remains.
Exotic trees (in the foreground a monkey puzzle tree)The park covers the ground that once belonged to the abbey. Parts of the walls from 1260 still remain.
After spending hours standing in front of exhibitions in the museum, it was nice to sit down in the green and have a cup of tea.
More exotic trees; to the right part of the Roman towerThere is more where this came from. You can imagine I could not resist the temptation to take lots of pics of the old stones. Luckily, there were moments I could catch them without a bunch of school kids in red jumpers running all over the place.
Two Heinrichs, a Cathedral, and Richard Lionheart
Part of the Speyer Cathedral we can see today goes back to the Emperor Konrad II who began the building in 1030 in replacement of an older church. Konrad was very impressed by the grand cathedrals in Italy he saw when traveling to Rome for his coronation as Emperor, and he wanted to erect the largest sacral building of western Christendom.
But it was his grandson Heinrich IV who gave the cathedral its final splendour. After the humiliation at Canossa and the ongoing strife with the pope, he used Speyer Cathedral as political demonstration. Heinrich rebuilt the eastern part with choir and apsis as well as the transept with its decorated gables, gave the main nave a cross grain vaulted ceiling (it had a wooden cassette ceiling before), and added the four towers and the arcade decorations on the outside.
There is another post about the history of Speyer Cathedral here. As it stands today, the building is close again to its original form it got during Heinrich's IV reign.
Speyer Cathedral seen from the south
To the left choir with towers and apsis, and crossing tower dome,
to the right narthex tower and Westwerk with towersWould Richard Lionheart visit Speyer today, he might well recognise the cathedral. Part of the eastern walls as well as those in choir and apsis are the very stones he had looked at during his two visits in Speyer.
How did he get there? Well, most of you will know the story of Richard's capture by Duke Leopold of Austria in 1192, when Richard fled across the Alpes in disguise in hope to get to the lands of his brother-in-law Heinrich the Lion of Saxony who had returned from exile in England.
Southern transept, decorated gable with arcadesLeopold handed Richard over to the Emperor Heinrich VI, son of Friedrich Barbarossa (though I bet he got a nice share in the ransom). And that is where politics come in. By the marriage of his sister Mathilde to the Heinrich the Lion, Richard was related to the Welfen family, while Heinrich VI was a Staufen. Those two houses didn't get along since Barbarossa exiled Heinrich the Lion, and the fact that Heinrich revolted against the son of his old enemy as soon as he came home, didn't improve matters.
Also, Heinrich VI needed money to reconquer Sicily, and Richard was a fat fish in that aspect. Since Philippe Auguste of France, another of Richard's enemies (he had a talent to make those) offered to pay the ransom if he got
his hands on Richard, the latter decided to better go along with Heinrich VI's demand and pay. It fell upon his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine to gather the money.
Main nave, facing east towards choir and apsisSince the Church considered it a crime to capture a crusader, Heinrich staged a process during a
Reichstag in Speyer where he tried to prove Richard's guilt in various points. Richard managed to not lose his temper for a change but to defend himself in a noble way, and thus the process came to nothing - except that Richard was kept prisoner in Trifels Castle until the better part of the money was paid. Heinrich escaped excommunication, but Leopold suffered that fate for the capture of Richard.
The final required payment took place in January 1194, and Richard was officially released. He had to swear an oath of fealty to the Emperor Heinrich, but that was nothing more than a gesture and never influenced the power constellations in Europe. Richard celebrated the Christmas before that event in Speyer, then already more a guest than a hostage, and we can be sure he has been inside the cathedral during masses. Probably already during his first stay since no one would have refused him religious assistance.
Choir with apsisHeinrich VI and Duke Heinrich the Lion made peace as well, though I couldn't figure out if Richard had a hand in that. Back home, Richard had to deal with his brother John, while Heinrich VI managed to conquer Sicily. And the rest is legend. *grin*
The Cathedral in Speyer - Architecture
I explained the two first stages of the architecture of Speyer Cathedral in this post.
The highlight of the exterior is the westwork.
West facade
The Speyer Cathedral is one of the purest examples of the Romanesque style with a very balanced and symmetrical design. It is a triple-aised vaulted basilica, constructed 1030-1061, with some later additions, and holds the burials of several German emperors.
Transept and crossing tower
In 1981, the Speyer Cathedral was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.
North side
Note that the aisles are lower than the main nave, a typical feature of the basilika style.
The main nave and choir belong to the second Romanesque period while the aisles and the crypt show the architecture of the first, the Konradinian stage.
South aisle, facing west
Speyer Cathedral suffered during various wars, especially the Thirty Years War and the Palatine Succesion War (1688-1697). While the eastern part survived with little damage, the
Westwerk was completely destroyed and replaced by a much simpler version in 1770. Later, some idiot in Napoleon's administration wanted to tear the entire building down and replace it with a park; luckily, the bishop of Mainz managed to stop that nonsense. The cathedral escaped the bombs of the World Wars.
North aisle, facing west; seen from the quire;
You can see how similar both aisles are
In the 19th century, the cathedral interior was richly decorated with pseudo-historical, so called Nazarenian paintings which were duly ereased during a renovation 1957 (fortunately; there's a picture in the guide book: lots of gold and kitsch). By then, the cathedral was valued for its burials of Mediaeval Emperors. One of the better changes in the 19th century was the re-erection of the two-towered
Westwerk.
Speyer Cathedral, seen from the north facing east
Another major renovation 1984/85 got rid of more later additons and reestablished as much as possible of the Romanesque building. The latest change (1996) was the banishment of market stalls outside the church, and the reconstruction of the narthex tower of the
Westwerk. The tomb vault of the Imperial burials was opened to the public.
Main nave
(It reminds a bit of the Aula Palatina in Trier,
esp. considering the fact the latter had murals in Roman times.)
The walls are structured by double arched windows and frescoes. The murals are not original, but there have been paintings in the Middle Ages. The architect Heinrich Hübsch used old paintings and tried to come as close to the original as possible - much better than the previous Baroque version.
Crossing dome
I took the photo for the effect; I'm experimenting more these days. The angle doesn't show how high the crossing dome is - one of these days I'll look up the measurements for Constance. *grin*
Crypt, detail of the ceiling
The crypt, one of the largest in a Medieaval church, never suffered destruction and thus represents one of the finest examples of the early Romanesque style. I'll get back to it in another post. A good example of Romanesque gross grain vaults with perfectly semi-circle arcs. A bit dark, unfortunately; the light in the crypt was very Mediaeval.
More York Impressions - Seen from the Ouse River
On the second evening, I took a cruise on the Ouse river. It was nice to sit for a change after all that walking. Though the British weather played tricks; after a rather warm day it grew cold, and of course, I took my lighter jacket. After all, you bring warm clothes to leave them in the hotel room.
One of the bridges
The old town and thus the Roman founded part of York lies to the right.
It was a fun little trip guided by a Mediaevalish dressed up young lady telling lots of ghost stories about Romans and robbers in York. I didn't see any, though, and I'd so have liked to meet with that spooky centurion.
Ghostly evening on the Ouse
What I did get was an ale called
Centurion's Ghost in the
Last Drop Inn. A pretty good one. Can't blame the soldiers in Vindolanda for asking to get more Celtic beer. After all, they missed their chance to get better acquainted with the German ones. *grin*
Houses at the riverside
I think some of them must have been old storage houses that have been modernised and equipped with additional windows; they reminded me of the Mediaeval part of Lübeck where I took a Trave cruise. I love river cruises as a way to explore towns and landscapes.
Pretty houses
This pic was taken some way outside the town centre. A nice place to live, I suppose, but probably expensive.
Evening on the Ouse in York
I missed ghost stories about our dear Richard, though. You'd think he left some ghosts behind, but it seems they've abandoned York long ago.
Another view of the river
And now I'll have to read up on a lot of blog posts.
Walking in York
Here are some pics from York's Old Town I took while walking around and enjoying the pretty views. Since it was already late afternoon, it was not too much of a pushing your way through clusters of tourists. It was worse the next day, so I was glad I had already taken a bunch of pics.
The place reminded me a lot of Stockholm's Gamla Stan which has equally narrow streets. Göttingen has some fine old houses, but the streets are broader.
Low PetergateLow Petergate is the old
via principalis of the Roman fort. My hotel was situated in that street as well, which I thought very fitting.
Market StreetOne of the broader streets in the centre. There is at least enough space for cars, but only taxis and buses are allowed.
The structure of the half timbered houses is different from the German one; we have more square structures and not those long, vertical beams, as can be seen
here.
Little ShamblesIt is a common feature for Mediaeval houses all over Europe that the second storey is built standing out over the first. The reason for that were taxes depending on the space of the foundations.
Churches in Heiligenstadt
Heiligenstadt is a small town in Thuringia, centre of the Catholic enclave called Eichsfeld. I had been there shortly after the frontier was opened, and things have changed a lot since then. The old houses in the centre and the churches have been renovated, and the place looks really pretty.
In the Middle Ages, Heiligenstadt belonged to the archbishopric of Mainz, and archbishop Siegfried II granted Heiligenstadt the rights of a town in 1227. It is the centre of the Eichsfeld since 1540.
St. Martin Church, Heiligenstadt; seen from the south
The architectural history of St. Martin in Heiligenstadt / Thuringia is a bit complicated. It is basically a Gothic church in the basilica style (the aisles are lower than the main nave), with an annexed crypt in late Romanesque style. The oldest part seems to be the choir and the main nave. One chronicle from 1276 mentions a request for donations to rebuild the old church,which obviously was in bad repair. No remains of this older building have been found so far. Another source points to the fact that the choir seems to have been finished in 1316.
View from the choir to the south aisle
While the nave and choir are early Gothic style, the southern aisle is high Gothic, and the west facade with it's rosette window is late Gothic - in England called perpendicular or flamboyant style. But the interior of the church gives the impression of harmony, despite the long time that passed until the building was finished.
Main nave, ceiling
The arcs of the vaults are not rounded like in the Romanesque style, but pointed at the center. During the development of the Gothic style the pointed structure gets more angular and steep, abandoning the form of a true arc.
View to main nave from the north aisle.
The main nave looks higher than it is because of the unadorned walls. They are often structured by ornaments in other churches. The heavy 'bundled pillars' that divide the aisles from the main nave add to the effect. The aisles are more like rooms of their own here than in some other churches I've seen.
Main nave, view to the west
I aimed the camera slightly towards the ceiling so you can see the late afternoon light coming in through the clerestories while the lower part of the nave remains in twilight. It was a very peaceful atmosphere the day I visited the church.
Main nave, view to the east with the choir windows
Architectonic tricks like the heavy bundled pillars and the unadorned walls lend the nave greater height. Fortunately, the changes from the Baroque times, like wall paintings, additional altars and pulpits and probably some of those gilded chubby angels had been removed as early as 1862, so the original structure is visible again.
Pulpit on the north wall near the quire
Of course, the church could have been whitewashed or painted in the Middle ages as well. But 14th century frescoes would have fit better with the architecture, I'd say. I have not found any mention of traces of Medieaval colours on the walls in the guide book, so I don't think any have been found under all that Baroque stuff. I prefer the unadorned stone.
St. Martin, crypt from about 1250
The crypt must have belonged to an older church and was intergrated into the Gothic building. It is not clearly to be seen in the photos because of the angles, but this one shows an earlier stage where the rounded Romanesque style you may remember from
Lippoldsberg (last picture in that post) just started to develop into the Gothic one. If you compare the vaults of the crypt with the arc on the second picture, you can see a slight difference.
Dragon relief on a capital in the south aisle
These charming dragons with intertwining tails are part of a capital decoration. They date from 1360-70. Compared to the Italian Romanesque ornaments in
Königslutter, the figures are more twisted with less regard to anatomy, leaves and other ornaments more splendid and wild, and the symmetry sometimes broken. The hunt had a symbolic meaning in the Middle ages, and so we find the motive here as well.
Hunting motive on a capital in the south aisle
Heiligenstadt had strong connections with the archbishopric of Mainz, which is interesting because it is a good distance east of the Rhine. The influence of the archbishops of Mainz in Saxony will tie in with the posts about our friend Otto of Northeim. For now I'll only say: men of the Church were probably worse intrigants than secular nobles. :)
St. Mary Church, Heiligenstadt
St Mary Church is another pretty church in Heiligenstadt. The building is a three nave Gothic hall church, that means the aisles have the same height as the nave, different from the
basilica type with the lower aisles which was prevalent in the Romanesque style. There is no transept.
St Mary Church, south side
The oldest part of the church is the
Westwerk with its two towers, erected about 1300. The naves date from the end of the 14th century, and the high choir to the east is the youngest part, built about 1420.
There must have been an older building, because a St Mary Church is mentioned in a chronicle from 1239 as the church of the town comunity.
St Mary, Heiligenstadt, interior - the shot was taken with a wide angle objective
There is quite some light inside, because St. Mary is a hall church with aisles and nave the same height, so the light can come in through large windows at the aisles instead of smaller clerestories in the upper part of the nave. The white paint adds to the effect as well. The paint was added during the 1970ies restoration, based on some traces of old colours, while the 19th century neo-Gothic decorations got ereased.
View towards the choir ceiling which is painted as well
If you look closely, you'll see that the bundled pillars are not much different from St.Martin, but to enhance the hall effect, the choir was rebuilt in the late 14th century in a larger scale and to the same height as the nave and aisles.
Playing in the Mud
For Kirsten, who got accepted as volunteer excavator in Vindolanda come summer.
Here's a glimpse of what you can expect.
Excavation siteIt wasn't so muddy when I visited the place in June 2007, but I suppose after the rains later in summer the digging sites had turned into lakes.
Peek inside the hole: Victorian time drainage pipe in the foreground,
remains of wooden posts of older Roman fort in the background.I hope you'll enjoy your time in Vindolanda. It's a great place. I spent some time hanging around the excavation site and discussing the
Hedemünden finds (aka The Romans at my Backdoor) with the guys. They hadn't heard about those and were very interested.