Architecture and Society in Normandy, 1120-1270

This wide-ranging book explores the architectureand#151;principally ecclesiasticaland#151;of Normandy from 1120 to 1270, a period of profound social, cultural, and political change. In 1204, control of the duchy of Normandy passed from the hands of the Anglo-Norman/Angevin descendants of William the Conqueror to the Capetian kingdom of France. The book examines the enormous cultural impact of this political change and places the architecture of the time in the context of the Normansand#8217; complicated sense of their own identity. It is the first book to consider the inception and development of gothic architecture in Normandy and the first to establish a reliable chronology of buildings.

Lindy Grant extends her investigation beyond the buildings themselves and also offers an account of those who commissioned, built, and used them. The humanized story she tells provides sharp insights not only into Normandyand#8217;s medieval architecture, but also into the fascinating society from which it emerged.

In this book, the first to consider the development of Gothic architecture in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Normandy, Lindy Grant examines a period of profound social, cultural, and political change. She establishes the first reliable chronology of buildings while providing sharp insights into Normandyand#8217;s medieval architecture and its patrons and architects.