Phase I, 1225-1232 | Saint-Pierre de Beauvais | Briefing

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Saint-Pierre de Beauvais | Phase I, 1225–1232
Professor Stephen Murray

Construction of the Gothic Choir
Whereas we experience the choir as a unity it must be remembered that the construction extended over a period of almost fifty years (1225–1272) marked by the historical vicissitudes sketched above. A careful study of the forms of articulation suggests that Beauvais Cathedral, like Chârtres, Soissons, Amiens and others, was begun in the middle (the area of the transept and crossing). At Beauvais, like Amiens, the two flanks of the edifice, north and south, were constructed with different rhythms and slightly different forms. The construction of the choir may best be understood in three successive phases.

Phase 1, 1225–1232
The pre-Gothic cathedral had been rebuilt around 1000: the Romanesque nave, much transformed, still survives to the west as the Basse Oeuvre.


France, Beauvais, Plan		France, Beauvais, Cathedral, South flank of Romanesque nave		France, Beauvais, Cathedral, South flank of Romanesque nave


France, Beauvais, Cathedral, Aerial view		France, Beauvais, Cathedral, Axonometric drawings of the construction sequence		France, Beauvais, Cathedral, North side of choir and east side of north transept

The original choir, probably rebuilt after fire(s) in the 1180s, was seriously damaged by another fire in 1225. Bishop Milon de Nanteuil (1217–1234) initiated new construction with the commitment of one tenth of his income for ten years, requiring members of the chapter to reciprocate. The bishop was overwhelmed with debt within about five years of the start of construction.

First came the need for massive work on the new foundations, which are thought to extend to a depth of about ten meters. The principal quarries, including the quarry of Saint Pierre, entirely subterranean, were located to the south of the city near the villages of Frocourt and Bongenoult. The stone is a hard chalk embedded with nodules of flint.

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New work began on the northern flank of the choir with the eastern bay of the north transept including the western chamber of the treasury/sacristy. On the south side the equivalent bays were begun very shortly afterwards. The old fire-damaged choir, demolished piecemeal, was thus flanked by the new construction. Early work on the Gothic choir extends from the vaults of the terminal bays of the east aisle of the transept on each side to the lower walls of the choir aisles down to the base of the hemicycle.

The transept façades were to have been flanked by powerful towers (never built) like those at Laon, Chârtres, and Reims.


France, Beauvais, Cathedral, South side of choir and south transept		France, Beauvais, Cathedral, North transept façade		France, Beauvais, Cathedral, South transept façade

The vocabulary of forms suggests the presence of a master mason from the vicinity of Paris. In the base of each tower the walls were thick enough for two parallel passages at mid-level and the upper rose windows were framed by heavy round arches like barrel vaults. The tower-supporting piers were massive; arches flat-surfaced and the simple blocky crocket capitals were square-set. The transept aisle terminals were formed by square bays and the westernmost bay of the choir was a double square of fifty two by twenty six Roman feet.

The cathedral envisaged at this stage was an extraordinary structure combining a five-aisled pyramidal elevation (tall inner aisle; low outer aisle) with a substantial towered transept. While these features can be found respectively at Bourges and Chârtres, the principal prototypes for the combination were (in addition to the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin) the third abbey church of Cluny and Old Saint Peters in Rome. This is, after all, the church of Saint Peter of Beauvais, and its patron, Bishop Milon, claimed to serve only to the Pope.


France, Beauvais, Cathedral, Section		Italy, Rome, Old St. Peter's, Diagram		France, Beauvais, Cathedral, South transept, East side

This early work, while ambitious and copiously funded, was not fully under control. The two flanks of the choir, north and south, embody forms that are significantly different one from another (the forms of the south side are more advanced than the heavier, more plastic forms on the north). The piliers cantonnés of the transept, exact copies of their counterparts in the nave of Amiens Cathedral begun in 1220, are too slender in relation to the compound piers of the transept terminals.


France, Amiens, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, General view of nave and choir		France, Amiens, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, South-west corner of south transept, Looking towards north elevation of nave

The combination of slender piers and thick arches was to have dangerous repercussions—slender supports tend to rotate under the thrust of an inadequately buttressed arch. Royal and local foot units were both in use at the same time, possibly leading to confusion. This was a period when royal monetary units and units of mensuration were penetrating the Beauvaisis. The lower wall of the north flank of the choir extends somewhat further to the east than the corresponding south wall, producing a slight misalignment in the slightly later (Phase II) hemicycle. This early work was probably interrupted after seven years as a result of the loss of episcopal revenues after the riot and royal intervention in 1232. Episcopal revenues remained in the hands of the king until 1239.

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