medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Monday, December 6, 2004, at 10:15 am, chris crockett wrote (quoting
me):
> > The entire rear end of the building is said to have been
> reworked in the
> thirteenth century.
>
> how curious: "reworked".
Things were not always hunky-dory between Sulmona and Pentima (medieval
name for Corfinio). In 1229 people of Sulmona, egged on by the canons
of their cathedral (who had been excommunicated by the bishop of Valva
for withholding tithes and fees due, he said, to him), went up to
Pentima and sacked and burned the bishop's cathedral of San Pelino. If
we can believe the subsequent _Actum destructionis ecclesiae Sancti
Pelini et examen testium_, they did a pretty thorough job of it. (The
ambo that's in the building now is reconstructed and may not have been
the original in any case, though it's usually treated as though it
were.)
What we see now is a rebuilding that followed. Though this is
sometimes described as new construction of an unfinished church, it
seems more reasonable to suppose that it's a reconstruction brought on
by the sack. Though the work one sees is thirteenth-century, it seems
to have followed the ground plan of the pre-existing structure. The
architects who did the work are also said to have added pointed arcades
in various places: what's shown here as "arcate a sesto acuto" are only
very shallowly pointed (wtw!):
http://www.liceoscientificosulmona.it/ROMANICO-ABRUZZESE/Schede-
edifici/S_PELINO_A_CORFINIO/FOTO_S_PELINO/ARCATE.jpg
>
> > The prismatic apse at Santa Maria in Valle Porclaneta is a
> boxier affair on
> a much smaller building.
I found a photo:
http://web.tiscali.it/COMUNEMAGLIANOMARSI/images/abside.jpg
A side view would show the angularity a lot more clearly.
And for comparison, here's San Pelino's apse again (wtw!):
http://www.liceoscientificosulmona.it/ROMANICO-ABRUZZESE/Schede-
edifici/S_PELINO_A_CORFINIO/FOTO_S_PELINO/PROSPETTO.jpg
and
http://www.liceoscientificosulmona.it/ROMANICO-ABRUZZESE/Schede-
edifici/S_PELINO_A_CORFINIO/FOTO_S_PELINO/ABSIDE.jpg
This apse is undated; it is said to have been added "many decades"
(helpful, eh?) after the construction of the church in the eleventh
century.
> "prismatic" apses are a great rarity in "romanesque" buildings in
> France, if
> i'm not mistaken.
>
> what made this one stand out, i suppose, is that it is "smooth",
> having no
> external buttresses dividing the "facets".
What always strikes me about is the "sandwich effect" of the divided
middle courses between the plain ones above and below.
Best again,
John Dillon
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