Gothic Cathedral List #1

Basilica

A meeting place; Market, administration, etc. Not explicitly religious.

Posts + Lintel

A structural system where horizontal beams are supported by vertical columns; the three sides of a door frame

Coffer

A decorative device within a ceiling, often consisting of a sunken panel or indentation. Comes in multiple shapes with inserts.

Barrel Vaulting

Uses static force, force goes outwards. Extra stone that is built on the side to counteract the stress put on columns from arches

Corinthian Order

Decorative Column with a leafy ringed captial, often copied by cathedral architects

Concrete

A building material made from a mixture of cement, water, and aggregate; Cohesive and can be shaped any way

Mortar

Mixture of sand, water, and quickline/chemical agent that causes a stickiness

Masonry

Working with stone and brick

Hypostile

Rows of columns that supports a roof, not another floor or decorations

Pier

What columns attach to, a big blocky supportive element that holds weight upwards; can be any shape

Attached Column

Columns attached to piers in order to secure an arch

Gallery

A seperate level to the church, hardly had a purpose. Present to lift upa second set of semi (barrel vaults) - More buttressing

Buttresses

Extra stone that is built on the side to counteract the stress put on columns from arches. Tensile Strength

Compound Pier

Attached projecting columns, projecting into the pew space

Bay

A unit of a room, Ex. garage. Way to divide up an open space into discrete units. Each one is supposed to be identical.

Groin Vault

Produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Refers to the edge between intersecting vaults, likely an arch

Reliquary

A golden vessel that holds a holy relic or the body of a saint. People made requests/a conduit for prayers.

Ambulatory

An aisle or passageway connecting the side aisles of a choir and running behind the east end of its central vessel, chapel, or aisle

Pilgrimage Chevet

Addition to the chruch that wraps around the axe, has a walkway and chapels. Combination allows pilgrims to get as close as possible to the relics and religuaries without trampling.

Abbey/Monastery

Housing for people who have vowed to live forever within the monastary, monks and nuns

Abbot

Male leader of a monastery

Monk/Nuns

Vowed their lives to individual poverty, obedience, and chastity, received gifts from church goers. Dedicated their lives to work and prayer, sometimes outreach to others

Capetians

Took over much of frace by 12th century, militarily and economically. Economy flourished; safer roads and better church investment

Iie de France

Area around paris, heartland of the original French domain

Abbot Suger

Wrote a lot about his favorite activities; ordering and building churches. Led much of the monastery rebuilding. Loved shiny things

Benedictine Rule

Regulation for monastic conduct written in a book of precepts by the monk St. Benedict of Nursia.

Oriflamme

A pennant that french kings carried into battle; symbolizes divine intervention

Anagogical

A mystical experience that allowed them to get closer to the heavens. Ex. Contemplation of reflecting light/multiple colors

Pseudo-Dionysius The Areopagite

Wrote a series of Greek treatises to describe the anagogical experience

Narthex

Crossing arched vaults, including ribs, webs, springings, and  a shaft to bear weight.

Web

Negative Space within a groin vault, one of the four curved sections

Shaft System

A created flow/array/network of vaulted lines and colonettes

Litergey

The specific order of things (rituals, direction, etc.) 

Ashlar Masonry

Square cut masonry

Cathedral

The seat of the bishop, similar to an office. Defined place by bishop

Bishop

Chief administrator of a church region, has to be a priest. Promoted to admisitrative leader.

Flying Buttress

An extra support for the pillars of an arch, usually outside, to help the stress line stay in place.