Universe of stone : a biography of Chartres Cathedral

Format:

Book

Title:

Universe of stone : a biography of Chartres Cathedral

Author:

Ball, Philip, 1962-

ISBN:

9780061154294

Edition:

1st U.S. ed.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

vii, 322 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

Contents:

The isle rises: Chartres in the kingdom of France -- Change of style: invention of Gothic -- Heaven on earth: what is a cathedral? -- Seek not to know high things: faith and reason in the Middle Ages -- Building by numbers: science and geometry at the school of Chartres -- Masters of works: men who planned the cathedrals -- Hammer and stone: medieval masons -- Underneath the arches: house of forces -- Holy radiance: metaphysics of light -- Hard labour: how the cathedral rose -- New beginning: first renaissance.

Summary:

Universe of Stone shows that the Gothic cathedrals encode a far-reaching shift in the way medieval thinkers perceived their relationship with their world. For the first time, they began to believe in an orderly, rational world that could be investigated and understood. This change marked the beginning of Western science and also the start of a long and, indeed, unfinished struggle to reconcile faith and reason.

Corporate Subject:

Cathédrale de Chartres.

Cathédrale de Chartres

Subject(s):

Cathédrale de Chartres.

Cathedrals -- France -- Chartres -- History.

Geographic Term:

Genre:

Holds:

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	726.60944 Ball 2008	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"A lively, open-ended study of the building of Chartres Cathedral. . . . Ball puts the fun back in medieval scholasticism." --Los Angeles Times

Chartres Cathedral, south of Paris, is revered as one of the most beautiful and profound works of art in the Western canon. But what did it mean to those who constructed it in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries--and why was it built at such immense height and with such glorious play of light, in the soaring manner we now call Gothic?

In this eminently fascinating work, author Philip Ball makes sense of the visual and emotional power of Chartres and brilliantly explores how its construction--and the creation of other Gothic cathedrals--represented a profound and dramatic shift in the way medieval thinkers perceived their relationship with their world.

Beautifully illustrated and written, filled with astonishing insight, Universe of Stone embeds the magnificent cathedral in the culture of the twelfth century--its schools of philosophy and science, its trades and technologies, its politics and religious debates--enabling us to view this ancient architectural marvel with fresh eyes.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Anyone who has been thrilled by the great Gothic cathedrals will revel in this study of both the spiritual and architectural qualities of those medieval wonders. For Ball (Critical Mass), a consultant for Nature magazine, the Chartres cathedral is the apotheosis of the Gothic style, and in his hands it becomes a kind of time capsule bearing the message of the High Middle Ages, when reason was emerging into a world previously governed by faith and fear. Ball is a sure-footed guide through the thickets of medieval philosophical debate about reason and religion, while also presenting the strong personalities of the time, such as the ascetic Bernard of Clairveaux and his nemesis, the fractious Peter Abelard. Then Ball focuses on the physical aspects of the cathedral: the role of the geometry in Gothic design, the fine points of rib vaults and pointed arches, and the role structural necessity played in creating the Gothic aesthetic. But for Ball the central question is the possible link between the the realms of the spiritual and physical: did the "hard-shell-studded limestone" Chartres cathedral embody the worldview of the new scholasticism taught at Chartres's prestigious school, which rejected the notion that God's ways are unknowable in favor of viewing nature as governed by orderly, intelligible laws? Ball's passion, sharp critical mind and fluid prose open a window onto the remote, alien world we call the Middle Ages. 16 pages of color illus., 100 b&w illus. (July 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus Review

The intellectual revolution in medieval France, as embodied in the architecture of a great cathedral. Nature consulting editor Ball (The Devil's Doctor: Paracelcus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science, 2006, etc.) leaves no stone unturned as he explores the shifting social and political atmosphere of 12th-century France during the rise of one of history's greatest testaments to God and Gothic architecture: the cathedral at Chartres. Conceived in homage to the Virgin Mary, the church was constructed during a period of rapid progress in thinking and execution. Great Gothic structures were sprouting all over France, and along with them, advances in technology and technique that greatly benefited the cathedral's mysterious builders. Neo-Platonic physics, experiments with light and form, changing ideas about reason and logic and a radical shift to metaphysical inquiry all played a role at Chartres. Europe, emerging from centuries of strife and barbarism, now devoted itself to promoting the opposite. Scholars suggest that by the end of the 13th century, Chartres had become a major center of learning as well as the most accomplished example of Gothic architecture in France. Two of its defining characteristics, the illusion of weightlessness and the infusion of light, were enabled by mathematics. Flying buttresses and vaulted arches allowed for the immense height and infrastructure supporting luminous panes of colored glass. The great rose window, a masterpiece of form and function, fuses in classic high-medieval style the tangible and spiritual, the mundane and transcendental, the public and personal. The fact that this magnificent house of worship was also used as a town hall and marketplace encapsulates the delicate transition taking place in public intellectual life, as theology made room for philosophy and science, while the cathedral's soaring nave and windows remind us that divine worship has always been at the root of this spectacular structure. A revelatory look at a seminal period in art history. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Acknowledgements	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
1 The Isle Rises: Chartres in the Kingdom of France	p. 8
2 A Change of Style: The Invention of Gothic	p. 23
3 Heaven on Earth: What is a Cathedral?	p. 52
4 Seek Not to Know High Things: Faith and Reason in the Middle Ages	p. 69
5 Building by Numbers: Science and Geometry at the School of Chartres	p. 100
6 Masters of Works: The Men Who Planned the Cathedrals	p. 136
7 Hammer and Stone: Medieval Masons	p. 170
8 Underneath the Arches: House of Forces	p. 193
9 Holy Radiance: The Metaphysics of Light	p. 233
10 Hard Labour: How the Cathedral Rose	p. 256
11 A New Beginning: The First Renaissance	p. 281
Notes	p. 292
Bibliography	p. 306
Index	p. 313

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Summary

Summary

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Table of Contents