medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: John Dillon <[log in to unmask]>
>it was the escarpment, and not any misconception about Chartres being
significantly elevated in other respects, that caused me to think of winches.
_If_ it were more economical to haul the stone downstream by boat (and the
thought of heavy waggons getting bogged down in muddy tracks suggests that
possibility),
yes, that was the only reason why i even considered the water route.
the plain of the Beauce can be a *sea* of mud in winter (althought it might
have been warmer and dryer in cc. 12 & 13) and middlevil roads --with no
Central Authority to see to their upkeep-- would not have been much better.
(and, curiously, the Roman roads were largely abandoned by this period.)
i can't see any other solution --assuming land transport of the innumerable
stones-- than the construction of a purpose-built road, which would have been
constantly maintained, over several decades (and that's just for the
cathedral, not to mention the numerous other churches in town, houses
increasingly built in stone, monastic outbuildings, the episcopal & comtal
palace, etc.)
and, keep in mind, the stones of the cathedral are *massive* buggers, your
average wall stone being nearly a cubic yard, some of the lower stones in the
12th c. Western towers being over six feet by three feet by three feet.
and at a density of about 160 lb/ft3 --2560 kg/m3-- a few tons here, a few
tons there, pretty soon you're talking about some *Weight*, brother.
>then one could take advantage of the escarpment to winch up secure platforms
or baskets of building material.
yes, but the scarp at chartres isn't quite as radical a drop-off as all that.
the ground does indeed, drop off rather strongly from the Bishop's Garden east
of the apse of the cathedral, but it's still several hundred yards down to the
river, down a steep (but habitable) hill.
i just don't believe that "winches" would have worked in that typographical
situation.
there are certainly places where it would have, perhaps.
the collegial of Mantes-la-Jollie sits, in part, on a rather sharp scarp
http://www.guide-touristique.info/tfr/photos/mantes-la-jolie.jpg
though it is some distance from the river (Seine).
Rocamador
http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/image/france/france-n-to-r/rocamadour/mc517roc.jpg
is a better possibility.
and, apart from some sort of Sky Hook (which was a middlevil invention), it's
hard to see another solution when your trying to build something that looks
like this:
http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/image/france/france-d-to-k/mont-saint-michael/msmbig.gif
http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/image/france/france-d-to-k/mont-saint-michael/m0429msm.jpg
though the pitch of the hill from the sea at the Mont *before* you get to the
projecting peak
http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/image/france/france-d-to-k/mont-saint-michael/m0428msm.jpg
looks to be roughly the same incline and distance as that from the river at
Chartres to the scarp behind the cathedral.
>Since similar technology would be used at the building site itself, one or
more winch-operated cranes at the top of the escarpment wouldn't seem an
impossibility.
yes, technologically doable, but too Topographically Challenging at Chartres,
i'm thinking.
i'm opting for a land route --at least for the cathedral. St. Peter's is down
on the floor of the valley, just a few steps from the river, and a water route
to it remains a possibility.
i'm sure that this Wheel has already been invented, but i can't recall seeing
reference to it in the literature --hence my Idle Speculation.
c
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