Resumen de Function, condition and process in eleventh-century Anglo-Norman church architecture
This paper sets out a general model for how the creation of Romanesque architecture in England in the late-11th-century was determined by three factors: the intended functions of the building; the prevailing conditions limiting the possibilities of its realisation; and the practical processes surrounding its actual construction. The model is then illustrated by three major churches for which we have a reasonable body of documentary source material, and for which we have substantial surviving fabric or, at least, good archaeological evidence for their appearance: the Cathedral and St Augustine’s Abbey at Canterbury, and St Albans Abbey. The diverse available sources throw light on the buildings: first on their liturgical usage, symbolic expression and projection of status; then on the financial resources to fund them; and finally on the procedures for administering the construction and the craftsmen employed.
