BEAUVAIS

In the first half of the 13th century, the chapter of Saint-Pierre in Beauvais (Oise) decided to replace a church that had been destroyed twice by fire, once in 1180 and again in 1225. Identifying sources of income for this

Beauvais (Oise), Saint-Pierre, chevet.

Photograph: Clarence Ward Collection. Courtesy of Oberlin College.

Project, the chapter also agreed to devote one-tenth of its revenue for the next ten years to the building of a magnificent church, the cathedral of Saint-Pierre. A papal legate approved the plan in 1245.

The foundation for the choir and apse was laid in 1238; had the catheral been completed as originally planned, it would have been the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. The irregular placement of pillars and buttresses, specified by the ambitious architectural plan, resulted in structural weaknesses. The roof caved in twice, in 1247 and 1284. The unfinished cathedral is 239 feet long and 160 feet high. The choir alone is 121 feet in length. Its vaulting, supported by twelve double flying buttresses, opens on an ambulatory by a succession of triangular arcades. A 14th-century clerestory, situated within the three bays, is composed of triangular and trefoil arches. Above the seven ambulatory chapels and the rectangular chapels are a blind triforium and a clerestory of the 13th century. This clerestory is surmounted by a series of windows ornamented with full and quarter-trefoils and a rose window in foliated tracery.

At the west end, adjoining the transept, is the nave of an earlier cathedral, known as Notre-Dame de la Basseffiuvre. The oldest religious edifice in Beauvais, this church was established 987-88 by Herve, bishop of Beauvais. The materials for its construction were probably taken from Roman ramparts.

Also at Beauvais is the church of Saint-Etienne, Beauvais’s first Christian edifice. It was destroyed by the Normans in 859 and after reconstruction was damaged twice by fire. In 997, Bishop Herve undertook its restoration. It offers an early example of crossribbed vaulting. Its nave and transept with a central bell tower are from the 12th century.

E. Kay Harris

[See also: CHAMBIGES, MARTIN; GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE]

Ajalbert, Jean. Beauvais. Paris: Morance, 1927.

Leblond, Victor. La cathedrale de Beauvais. Paris: Laurens, 1926.

Marsaux, M. le chanoine. “Beauvais.” Congres archeologique (Beauvais) 72(1905):1-31.

Mesqui, Jean. Ile-de-France gothique. 2 vols. Paris: Picard, 1988, Vol. 1, pp. 70-104.