Rebecca C Serrano
ERH-379X
Research Paper
The Relationship Between Communities and the Church as Represented
through Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth
The art of the Medieval period is very much centered around the Church, which is displayed in the grand gestures of these magnificent cathedrals that were being built during this time. The cathedrals were thought to be the house of God, through the height and light that was `construction of these buildings are very complex and used many different avenues for its completion, intertwining with individuals such as the Bishop/Church, King, local priory, and the builders. The interaction between these individuals is something that is not often explained in its complexity however the author Ken Follett wrote The Pillars of the Earth to describe the life of the people who were involved with the construction of the Gothic cathedral.
Ken Follett is a novelist who has written more than twenty novels, and his most well know being The Pillars of the Earth, selling approximately 10,000 paperback copies a year in America.[1] Pillars of the Earth held number one on the best sellers list in the US and UK for six weeks, and was on the German best seller list for six years, third only to the Bible and Lord of the Rings.[2] In 2010, The Pillars of the Earth became a television short produced by Starz, which widened the publicity, and provided the story in a shorter, condensed version of the book, which is very long to read. The book however, was part of Oprah’s book club and was the fastest selling of the collection, giving it much publicity.[3] In an interview with Oprah, Follett claims that his fascination with the building of these great cathedrals began after seeing Peterborough Cathedral (Image 1) in his twenties, describing the arches on the West Front as “doorways for giants to go through.”[4] He began to question why cathedrals were being built, who built the, what role they played with the communities, and may more, which his answer is The Pillars of the Earth, all 400,00 words of it. [5] Although this book may be lengthy, this is a portrayal of the life that interacted with the Cathedral, the building, the funding, the support of the building and the role it has played in so many of the people’s lives in Kingsbridge. The people of Kingsbridge represent the people of the Medieval period and the way they lived their lives through the building of the Cathedral.
Cathedrals all seem to be the same, large inside and outside, extravagantly decorated and filled with some art, however the importance comes in the small things, the detail behind the architecture the innovation with the style to support a new and improved cathedral. The cathedral in The Pillars of the Earth follows the Gothic style which diverges from the style of the Romanesque, created to be one of the best cathedrals in England. The Romanesque style was the first era of stone architecture since the Roman Empire with the development of rounded arches which created more open space in these buildings.[6] The Gothic style, Such as the Kingsbridge Cathedral in the book, changes some of the vital characteristics of cathedrals before this time. The Gothic style was characterized by the vaulted ceilings, pointed arches, and the flying buttresses.[7] These characteristics allowed for the cathedrals to be taller, more open, and have more light throughout the building, changing the atmosphere of the environment. Anderson describes the gift of the Gothic Cathedrals were its “immeasurable extension of the possibilities of emotional as well as intellectual expression.”[8] In the book, this change was embodied in the Master Builder Tom. He imagined a tall cathedral with many windows and created the idea of a pointed arch to bear the weight of the added stone. He, along with the Parish of Kingsbridge, saw a vision to have a building of innovation and inspiration.
The situation for the building of a new cathedral in the book was a fire, destroying the local church in Kingsbridge, a small city. “The cathedral should be recognized as the symbol of civic pride” brining much pressure to towns who wished to construct a cathedral. The cathedrals were built for “the peasants, townspeople and ruling classes, the patrons for who realized it’s style, the artists, architects, and masons.” [9] There are many complexities to the construction of the great cathedrals such as funding, the resources to build the cathedrals, and the people who build it. These components combined contribute to the complexity of the interactions of all these different components of people and their roles in the production of the cathedral. With complexity involves many moving parts causing issues between people and the play on who is charge of what aspect of the involvement to the success of the Kingsbridge Cathedral.
The complexity of the funding for these great cathedrals, in the book it always involved some sort of power play to get it what needed to get done for the production of the Kingsbridge Cathedral. Prior Philip is the man in charge of the Kingsbridge Priory, the one in charge for building the Cathedral, or rather the overseeing of its construction, a man that follows his heart over that of the Bishop and the Church. In the beginning when the fire destroyed the previous building, Prior Philip when through his chain of command asking for help to fund the construction of a new cathedral, to Bishop Waleran Bigod, who made Prior Phillip the prior of Kingsbridge. The Bishop had his hand in everyone’s pockets, making promises and giving people absolution to get what he wanted when he wanted it. The Bishop of an area such as depicted in The Pillars of the Earth had many roles including advising the King on religious and political matters, who he should invest and not invest in, trust and not trust, and who to believe. The construction of Kingsbridge Cathedral needed the approval of using the quarry and forest that was in control of the Earl of Shiring and a deal is made between the two with the help of the King and Bishop Waleran Although this began with King Phillip, it changed to Empress Maud, and so did the deal with the quarry and timber, but with Maud, there was an added charge on both ends to allow for the use of the stones and timber for the Kingsbridge Cathedral. Soon the Priory of Kingsbridge must begin to pay for the construction of the cathedrals as it continued and the funds were always scarce to come by though Prior Phillip found ways to keep it going, especially through a deal he made with Aliena, who sold fleece in Kingsbridge market. The townspeople helped the priory to complete its grand cathedral.
In the Medieval period, the cathedrals were often stopped due to lack of funds, causing the length of construction to continually grow.[10]In this period it was common for “the bishop who, out of his own funds and the revenue of his diocese, provided the money necessary for the execution of his project.”[11] We do not see this in the book, however another method for the funding of cathedrals is through the revenue of donations, collections a revenue. Kingsbridge becomes a growing market in the second half of the book, providing the priory with funds to support the construction, however the biggest source of funds come from a relic that Jack brings back from France. Upon Jacks return from France, he brings a relic with him, the Weeping Madonna, which brings people from many paths to the cathedral, most of whom donate money for its construction. This was common along the pilgrimage route to the Santiago de Compestela, that people come the cathedrals along the route to see the merical relics and donate money to keep their cathedrals running well.
Obtaining the resources to build cathedrals of this magnitude are always a concern. Not only is supply of material a concern, but also its quality. The quarry, which stone was collected, had to “meet three essential criteria: easy access, high-quality stone, and proximity to the building site.”[12] The quarry in The Pillars of the Earth, as mentioned above, was in control of the Earl of Shirring and through the many changes of leadership, their earldom came to an end, when Aliena came to control, giving the priory of Kingsbridge authorization to use the supplies that came from Shiring, which also included its forest for its timber. The forests were also important for construction, however a problem that arises is having trunks that are mature and large enough to support the work that needs to be done, which in the beginning, Tom Builder takes into consideration for how big hos rook will be due to the height and length of the timber.
The people who work on the Cathedrals are just as important as those who fund and provide the materials for it. The master builder, which is comparable to our term of architect, was the individual who was “the designer, structural engineer, site manager, and general contractor all in one.”[13] In the case of the book, the Kingsbridge Cathedral goes through three different master builders, each of whom bring one of the three elements which make gothic cathedrals, gothic cathedrals. The first of whom is Tom Builder who has the vision of pointed arches (Image 2). There were many people involved in the construction of cathedrals, and when Tom Builder Briefs Prior Phillip on how much it would cost he lists masons, laborers, apprentices, carpenters and smiths.[14] In the book, Tom Builder has two apprentices, Alfred his son, and Jack, his somewhat adopted son. They follow and learn from Tom Builder, who invented the pointed arches, through the years leading up to his death. After his death, Alfred takes over as the Master Builder of Kingsbridge Cathedral. Through Alfred’s time there, he decides he wants to make the roof of stone through the development of ribbed vaults which are made to support the weight of a stone roof rather than that of wood. This was a good idea, yet if fails and collapses. Soon after the roof collapses, Jack returns from France where he works on the large cathedrals and brings the concept of the buttresses, creating the flying buttress for Kingsbridge Cathedral.
The three elements that are used to compose a Gothic Cathedral, the pointed arch, vaulted ceilings, and flying buttress, all provided structural support for the cathedral to be build in the new innovative way. “The pointed arch is stronger than the rounded arch because it works with the opposition of forces and exert less thrust,” allowing for the builders to build higher with thinner walls.[15] The arch helps to support the heightened and thinned walls. The second element that helps to support a solid celling is the vaulted ceiling.[16] The vaulted ceiling is a combination of arches, combined to support a stone ceiling. This allows for the structure to last longer, survive to the point to today there are those structures that have survived. The las is the flying buttresses. These are vital to the height that was achieved by the gothic cathedrals such as the one in The Pillars of the Earth.
The construction of the cathedral took much time, due to all the problems stated above about the funds, resources and worker. The result is taking centuries to build Gothic cathedrals, more so than that of the Romanesque. Because of this expanded time frame, this created a different type of environment which contained individuals from different areas making a town full of mixed individuals. The development of the cathedral brought people to work on the cathedral and support those individuals. The development of the Kingsbridge Cathedral in The Pillars of the Earth created a market that started slowly and then boomed creating the town of Kingsbridge. The character who seemed to start is all was Aliena. While she was in search of a way to raise money for her brother Richard to become a knight, she got into the business of sheep wool and fleece. She brought her trade to Kingsbridge and became very successful in her trade allowing her to fund her brother’s expedition for his rightful earldom. The development of the market in Kingsbridge, it provided the funds to support the building of the church.
The concept of a town for this period is both simple and complex, simple because they saw people two ways: outside of the city was barbaric, and inside the city as urban. [17] Cities typically contained a wall, to separate these two different sections of people. Many medieval towns had a parish such as the one in the book, who typically had some say in the way in the city was run and controlled. In the book the political play on how the way that people interact to get what they want. The church was less about religion for some and more for power and control like the case with Bishop Waleran. Bishop Waleran began as a simple Prior of Kingsbridge, killing people along his way. The strings that Waleran Bigod had with the people in control basically asserted that he would rise to power from prior, to bishop, to going to Rome. He shifted his loyalties through the book supporting the ones he believes to have the power to give him what he wanted. Prior Phillip began the book as an honest good man, then as he put the needs of his parish and cathedral before his, he became a more political person, less of his honorable self.
The complexity of the interactions of people through the interactions with large events that occur in their area define a culture, such as the events that occur in The Pillars of the Earth. Through the development of the Kingsbridge Cathedral, the materials needed to construct the building, the funds to pay for such things, as well as the workers. This complexity is what came to interest while studying the development of the lives in the period, specifically with the development of grand cathedrals which took centuries to build. This interaction, which was fictionalized, through the people who were involved in the production of cathedrals, describing how one of the least taught interactions comes to life in this work by Ken Follett, allowing for a wide variety of people to see how this interaction with the development of a grand cathedral and the effect it has with a variety of people that interact with it.
Bibliography:
“Q&A with Ken Follett: After the Show Video Part 1.” Oprah.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016
Anderson, William, and Clive Hicks. The Rise of the Gothic. Salem, N.H: Salem House, 1985. Print.
Clark, William W. Medieval Cathedrals. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2006. Print.
Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain. The Cathedral: The Social and Architectural Dynamics of Construction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Print.
Follett, Ken. The pillars of the earth. New York: New American Library, 1990. Print.
Gimpel, Jean. The Cathedral Builders. New York: Grove Press, 1983. Print.
Icher, François. Building the Great Cathedrals. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998. Print
Immelman, Greig Stewart Martin. “Ken Follett | Bibliography | The Pillars of the Earth.” Ken Follett. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.
Immelman, Greig Stewart Martin. “Ken Follett | Biography.” Ken Follett. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.
Immelman, Greig Stewart Martin. “Ken Follett | Film & TV.” Ken Follett. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.
Kidson, Peter. The Medieval World. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967. Print.
Pevsner, Nikolaus, and Priscilla Metcalf. The Cathedrals of England. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Viking, 1985. Print.
Image 1 Peterborough Cathedral
Image 2 Pointed Arches of Salisbury Cathedral
[1] Immelman, Greig
[2] Immelman, Greig
[3] Q&A with Ken Follett
[4] Q&A with Ken Follett
[5] Q&A with Ken Follett
[6] Notes
[7] Notes
[8] Anderson, William, and Clive Hicks , 39
[9] Anderson, William, and Clive Hicks -43
[10] Notes
[11] Icher, François – 40
[12] Icher, François – 68
[13] Clark, William W ,23
[14] Follett, Ken, 297
[15] Anderson, William, and Clive Hicks ,39
[16] Notes
[17] Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain, 30
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