early medival/romanesque/gothic vocab

animal interlace

decorative pattern where animals are woven, knotted, or braided into complex, looping designs. Common in manuscripts and metalwork.

animal style

A broad term for art that emphasizes stylized, often abstract animal forms used for decoration rather than realistic depiction.

zoomorphic

Designs or forms that are shaped like or resemble animals (for example, letters in manuscripts formed from animal bodies).

hiberno saxon

early medieval art style from Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England (7th–9th c.), known for intricate interlace patterns, animal/zoomorphic designs, and richly decorated illuminated manuscripts, tied to monastic Christian culture.

scriptorium

A room in a monastery where monks copied, wrote, and illuminated manuscripts by hand.

relic

physical object associated with a holy figure, such as a bone, clothing, or personal item of a saint.

reliquary

decorative container used to hold and display relics, often made of precious materials like gold, gems, and enamel.

William the Conqueror, Norman Conquest (1066)

William, Duke of Normandy, defeated the English king Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, leading to Norman rule in England and major cultural and architectural influence.

pilgrimage

religious journey to a sacred site. In the Romanesque period, churches were designed to accommodate large numbers of pilgrims.

apsidall chapels

Small semi-circular chapels radiating from the apse, often

holding relics.

transept

The crossw

ise section of a church that forms the arms of the cross shape.

pier buttress

thick, vertical support attached to a wall or pier to help hold up heavy stone vaults and roofs.

barrel vault

A long, tunnel-like vault formed by a continuous arch.

rib vault

A vault supported by a framework of ribs.

ribbed groin

wo intersecting barrel vaults reinforced with ribs.

transverse arch

arch that runs across the nave, dividing it into sections an

d helping support the vault.

bay

A single vertical section of a church, defined by the space between piers or columns.

ambulatory

curved walkway that goes around the apse, allowing pilgrims to move through the church without disturbing services.

choir

area near the altar reserved for clergy and singers, usually between the nave and the apse.

crypt

stone chamber beneath the church, often used to house relics or tombs.

crossing

point where the nave and transept intersect.

crossing tower

tower built above this intersect

ion.

buttress

projecting support built against a wall to strengthen it.

tympanum

semi-circular sculpted area above a church doorway.

archivolt

decorative molding or arch framing the tympanum.

trumeau

central vertical pillar dividing a d

oorway.

jamb

side posts of a doorway.

jamb statuary

• Sculpted figures attached to the jambs, often saints or biblical figures.

romanesque

medieval European art and architecture style (c. 1000–1150 C.E.) characterized by thick stone walls, rounded arches, heavy piers, barrel and groin vaults, small windows, and sculpted church portals, often built to serve pilgrims and monastic communities

compound piers

Piers made of multiple bundled shafts that rise into the ribs of the vault, emphasizing verticality.

rib vault

A ceiling made of intersecting ribbed arches that support thin stone panels between them.

lancets

Tall, narrow, pointed windows.

rose window

large, circular stained-glass window with radial tracery, usually on a church façade.

tracery

stone framework in Gothic windows that holds the stained glass in decorative patterns.

grisaille

style of stained glass using mostly gray and white tones, allowing more light into the church.