No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2012
It will doubtless be generally admitted that the ecclesiastical buildings of the earlier centuries of the Christian era merit careful study, as well from the investigator into the history and antiquities of the Christian Church, as from the architectural antiquary. The style and ornamentation of the church and the baptistery must necessarily reflect something of the tone of feeling towards religious matters which prevailed at the time of their erection, whilst the form of the structure, and even more those fittings and arrangements by which it was adapted to ritual purposes, must obviously have been planned and modified in accordance with the views of the age as regarded liturgical and ritual observances, ecclesiastical discipline, and even articles of faith. To the architectural antiquary, on the other hand, these buildings are interesting as enabling him to study the decline of Roman art, and as links in the great chain of architectural progress.
page 158 note a For instance, he tells us that Paschal I. rebuilt the church of S. Prassede “in alium non longe demutans locum;” and a part of the wall of the apses of the old church has been recently found not many yards from that of the present.
The bronze doors erected by Pope Hilarus in the baptistery of the Lateran were, he says, ”argento clusas;” one pair still exists, and shows the sockets from which the silver has been extracted.
page 164 note a Hist. Eccl. lib. x. cap. 4.
page 164 note b De Vita Const, lib. iii. cap. 37.
page 164 note c Bunsen, Basiliken, p. 31.
page 164 note d Hübsch, Alt-Christlichen Kirchen, pl. xxxi. fig. 3.
page 165 note a Ciampini, De Sacris Ædificiis, p. 122.
page 165 note b Canina, Ricerche sopra l'Architettura piu propria dei tempi primitivi Cristiani.
page 165 note c Kügler, Geschichte der Baukunst, vol. i. p. 376.
page 166 note a Fergusson, Hist. of Arch. book i. chap. v. cut 402. The chapel on the north side may perhaps, however, be of a later date.
page 166 note b F. Prevost, Revue Archéologique, iv. p. 659.
page 166 note c Kügler, Geschichte der Baukunst, vol. i. p. 376.
page 168 note a The plan is merely a sketch-plan, not made from actual measurement.
page 168 note b The original front faced the east; the present front faces the west.
page 169 note a There was earlier church of S. Prassede, but not on quite the same site.
page 169 note b See Sketch Book of Wilars de Honecourt, p. 83, note, where some remarks by the Comte de Montalembert are given on this point.
page 169 note c “Fecit etiam ibi ipsum campanile et posuit campanam cum malleo æreo et cruce exaurato.” Lib. Pont.
page 169 note d The inscription, as read by me, ran as follows; the stone was, however, so much broken that it would be difficult to say how much is wanting:
In the original the words are not divided.
page 170 note a Hübsch claims a high antiquity for some of the campaniles at Ravenna; that of S. Francesco he thinks was built circa 500, and that of S. Apollinare in Classe circa 568. (Die Alt-Christlichen Kirchen, p. 34.) A tower of four stories with a gable is represented on the ivory reliquary at Brescia, which cannot be much later in date than the third century.
page 170 note b A list will be found in Poole's Continental Ecclesiology, p. 482.
page 170 note c Two reasons may perhaps be given for this practice: one, that when the font was a cistern of considerable diameter its presence in the church would be inconvenient; the second, that thus the unbaptised would not be obliged to enter the church, a point which seems to have been held of importance, as is shewn by Eusebius' account of Paulinus' church at Tyre.
page 170 note d By Hadrian I. (772–795).
page 170 note e By Leo III. (795–816).
page 170 note f By Hadrian I. (772–795).
page 171 note a By Hadrian I. (772–795).
page 171 note b By Leo III. (795–816). “Quia angustior locus populi existebat qui ad baptismum veniebat isdem præsul a fundamentis ipsum baptisterium in rotundum ampla largitate construens in meliorem erexit statum, atque sacrum fontem in medio largiori spatio fundavit, et in circuitu columnis porphyreticis decoravit, &c.”—Anast. in Vita.
page 172 note a See Fergusson's Handbook of Architecture, vol. i. p. 343.
page 172 note b Beschreibung der Stadt Rom, vol. ii. part ii. p. 234.
page 173 note a Vol. ii. p. 1.
page 175 note a Rostell (Beschreibung von Rom, by Bunsen, &c, vol. i. p. 408) however thinks that the chapels which are closely connected with the veneration of martyrs are to be ascribed to the fourth and fifth centuries.
page 175 note b Recent excavations below the church of S. Pudenziana have disclosed the remains of a church or chapel of very early date.
page 176 note a The plan is not made from measurement, but merely an eye-sketch.
page 177 note a See De Rossi, Roma Cristiana Sotterranea, vol. i. p 179, and elsewhere.
page 177 note b I observed one sepulchral stone bearing the date of the consulate of Postumianus (Rufus Prætextatus Postumianus, A.D. 448), and another that of Flavius Maburtius (Mavortius, A.D. 527). These, probably, point to the period when this cemetery, about seven miles from Rome, was specially honoured, and interment in it desired.
page 178 note a According to some authorities it was removed to S. Sabina by Pope Celestine in the fifth century. Other churches at Rome have, however, claimed the honour of possessing it; while some French writers state that it was given by Leo III. to Charlemagne.
page 178 note b In the description of the church which he built at Nola (Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, 32nd Epist. of Paulinus).
page 181 note a “Alexandrinum opus marmoris de duobus marmoribus, hoc est porphyretico et Lacedæmonio, primus (i. e. Alexander Severus) instituit.”—Ælius Lampridius in Vita Alexandri Severi. Such a pavement, composed exclusively of porphyry and serpentine, may be seen in the baths of Caracalla at Rome. The medieval pavements commonly said to be of opus Alexandrinum contain marbles of all kinds as well as porphyry and serpentine.
The fine pavement at S. Maria in Cosmedin bears an inscription naming Alphanus, who was chamberlain to Pope Calixtus II. (1119–1124), as the donor. That of S. Maria in Trastevere is attributed to Pope Innocent II. (1130–1143).—Besch. von Rom, vol.iii. part 3, p. 665. That of the choir of S. Lorenzo f. l. m. is evidently of.the same date as the paving of the platform of the altar, the ciborium over which bears date 1148. That of the Lateran was made, or perhaps more probably repaired and re-arranged, by Pope Martin V. (1417–1431).
page 183 note a The marble coating had however, I believe, entirely disappeared before the burning of the church; traces only existed in the time of Ugonio.
page 184 note a Perhaps no better examples of this method of decoration can be found than the choir of the cathedral of Parenzo in Istria (about A.D. 542), S. Giovanni in Fonte, (the baptistery of the cathedral, 5th or 6th century?), and S. Vitale (constructed 547), at Ravenna. In the first and second of these the decorations are in an almost complete state. Engravings representing them are to be found in Mittelalterliche Kunstdenkmale des Oesterreichischen Kaiserstaates (pl. xvi. of Parenzo), and Hübsch, Alt-Christlichen Kirchen, pl. xxix. Mother of pearl, and several kinds of marble, porphyry, serpentine, and brick, are employed.
page 185 note a Engraved in Von Minutoli, Ueber die Anfertigung und die Nutzanwendung der farbiger Gläser bei dem Alten, pi. iv.
page 185 note b Many of these are given by Agincourt, but only on a very small scale; the great work edited by Perret, and published at the expense of the French government, is unfortunately not as accurate as might be desired as regards either details or style; the copies published by Cav. de Rossi (Roma Cristiana Sotterranea) are probably the most exact which have as yet appeared.
page 186 note a Built in 1140.
page 186 note b See Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 2nd series, vol. ii. p. 142, 164, 264, 295, 407.
page 186 note c The passage is part of the description of S. Paolo f. l. m.
Bracteolas trabibus sublevit ut omnis aurulenta
Lux esset intus, ceu jubar sub ortu.—Peristephanon, Hymn 12.
page 187 note a Vide Plate X.
page 188 note a These capitals are very badly and incorrectly engraved by Hübsch, pl. xxv., figs. 16 and 17; the inscription even is omitted.
page 188 note b Kügler (Gesch. der Baukunst, vol. ii., p. 47) has engraved a capital of the ciborium of the altar at Parenzo in Istria, bearing some resemblance to Pl. VIII. fig. 3. This ciborium bears the date 1277, but it may very possibly be that the capital is far older; it very much resembles those in the church which appear to date from the sixth century.
page 190 note a Lead was used as a covering for roofs, as appears from Eusebius.
page 191 note a “In honorem beati Joannis Baptistse Hilarus Episcopus Dei famulus offert.”
page 191 note b These capitals and bases are remarkable as among the very few examples of ornaments executed in that very intractable material usually called serpentine, in reality a green porphyry.
page 192 note a Anastasius tells us that Pope Hilarus made “in ambobus oratoriis (sc. S. Joannis Baptistæ and S. Joannis Evangelistæ) januas æreas et argento clusas.”
page 192 note b Bunsen and Platner (Besch. von Rom, vol. iii. part i. p. 447) say,” mit Schmelzarbeit von verschiedenen Farben;” enamel work of various colours. I think this is to be doubted. Some fragments of the doors are, I believe, still in existence.
page 193 note a My authority for these measurements is Ciampini (Vet. Mon. vol. i. p. 75), who gives them in Roman palms.
page 193 note b προστάττει τὰς ἑν κύκλῳ θυρίδας ἀναληϕθῆναι τοις ὑάλῳ λευκῇ διαϕανέσι τ.αραπλησίως λίθοις οἵ τὸ μὲν ϕῶς οὐκ ἐμποδίξουσιν, ἄνεμον δὲ εἴργουσι καὶ τὸν ἀϕ ᾽ ἡλίου ϕλογμόν.
page 194 note a Canon von Wilmowsky of the Cathedral of Treves showed me in 1862 large quantities of pieces of glass bent and twisted by heat, which had been found close under the walls of that church, accompanied and overlaid by such other remains as to make it tolerably certain that they resulted from the burning of the church when the city was pillaged by the Franks in 420.
page 195 note a Hübsch has given many conjectural restorations of windows, but for the most part entirely without authority and without sufficient explanation that such is the case.
page 195 note b Canina (Richerche sopra l'Arch. dei tempi Crist), in his conjectural restoration of the interior of S. Croce, places this slab as a sort of parapet to the upper arcade; but in order to occupy this position it ought, according to his scale, to be ten feet long.
page 196 note a When not glazed these slabs served the purpose of a grating, protecting the opening against entrance, but admitting light and air. In the crypt of S. Apollinare in Classe at Ravenna, a grating of bronze remains, which, no doubt, dates from the period of the building of the church (531–549). It is composed of arcuations, with a cross in each.
page 196 note b Such slabs were in use in the classical period for parapets and the like, as well as for windows. Fragments are often found in the sites of Roman cities, and they are often represented in ancient sculptures. A good example of their use for the latter purpose will be found in Admiranda Romanarum Antiquitatum, Rome, 1693, pl. lxxiii. Here these pierced slabs are placed in a ring round the upper part of a circular tomb. An antique fragment, built into the wall of Canova's studio in the Via S. Giacomo at Rome, gives a good instance of their use as parapets.
page 198 note a This window is a slab of marble, pierced in a pattern of circles inclosing crosses, and not glazed. Another instance of the same kind, but far more intricate in pattern and far better executed, is over the most northern of the doorways leading from the Piazza into the vestibule of St. Mark's at Venice, and in the upper story of the western part of the south side of the same church are many slabs, circular, square, and round-headed, delicately pierced with beautiful patterns which appear to have served as windows. The heads of a range of arches are also filled with semi-circular slabs similarly worked. None of these are of large dimensions, and it is a question deserving investigation whether the larger window-openings were originally filled with such pierced slabs. It would be difficult, without very careful study, to decide whether these slabs were brought from other churches (as were so many of the ornamental portions of St. Mark's), or date from the time of the building of this church.
In the Mittelalterliche Kunstdenkmale des Oesterreichischen Kaiserstaates, p. 118, fig. 16, is an engraving of a window found among the ruins at Grado, which in character and execution bears much resemblance to that at Albenga.
page 199 note a It has been questioned by historians whether this part of the Liber Pontificalis is deserving of any confidence; I must confess my opinion that, though there may be many exaggerations, inaccuracies, or the like, Anastasius wrote, for the most part at all events, from documents. His accounts at any rate testify to the belief of his day as to what had been done at the various periods.
page 200 note a “Cujus loculum cum corpus S. Petri recondidit, ipsum loculum undique ex ære cyprio conclusit, quod est immobile: ad caput pedes quinque, ad pedes pedes quinque; ad latus dextrum pedes quinque, ad latus sinistrum pedes quinque: subtus pedes quinque, supra pedes quinque. Sic inclusit corpus Beati Petri Apostoli et recondidit et ornavit supra ex columnis porphyreticis, &c.” In like manner S. Hilarus (A.D. 461–467), we are told by the same writer, made confessions in the chapels built by him at the Lateran, which do not seem to have been underground chambers, but shrines of silver of moderate size.
page 200 note b Anastasius, de Vitis Pontificum, Vita Hadriani I.
page 200 note c Anastasius, de Vitis Pontificum, Vita Leonis III.
page 201 note a This -writer, however, sometimes uses the word cantharus in a different sense, as in the mention of another cantharus made by Pope Symmachus at St. Peter's. The cantharus, as a vessel for water, was, perhaps, the prototype of the holy-water stoup of our medieval churches.
page 201 note b Were these baths used for baptism in cases where there was no baptistery ?
page 201 note c This has also been supposed to have been a font.
page 202 note a Marchi, Monumenti delle Arti Primitive Crist., Architettura, pl. xlii.
page 202 note b Much doubt has been expressed as to the correctness of this account.
page 203 note a At p. 14 of “Les Carrelages émaillés du Moyen Age,” &c. by Emile Amé, is a cut (copied from the work published by the Commission Scientifique de l'Algérie) representing the plan of a small basilica, discovered at D'jémilah in Algeria, which has been surmised to date from an early, perhaps even a pre-Constantinian, era. The basilica is an oblong, without an apse, and near one end is a square inclosure, with doorways on the sides and front. This, probably, is a θυσιαστήριον,, and surrounded the altar.
page 204 note a As in the inscription put upon the canistra argentea which Gregory IV. gave to S. Maria in Trastevere, “Sanctæ Dei genetrice (sic in orig.) Gregorii Quarti Papæ.”—Anastasius, Vita Greg. IV.
page 205 note a He does not give any sufficient ground for this assertion.
page 205 note b “Et rugas in presbyterii, a parte virorum et mulierum, ex argento purissimo, pensantes lib. 130; nec non et alias rugas in caput presbyterii ante confessionem ex argento, pensantes simul 104.” Ducange explains Ruga, platea, vicus, but Anastasius evidently uses the word with a different meaning. It seems to mean railings, gratings, or perhaps gates; or, as the quantity of silver here mentioned is but small, perhaps only an ornamental railing on the top of the marble inclosure is meant. Rugæ bearing images are mentioned in another passage, and rugulæ confessionis.
page 205 note c “Pontifex summus … ecclesiam sanctæ et intemeratæ Virginis Mariæ Dominæ nostræ ad præsepe cernens quondam tali more constructam ut post sedem Pontificis mulieres ad sacra missarum solemnia stantes prope assistere juxta Pontificem viderentur, ita ut si aliquid colloqui cum sibi assistentibus voluisset ex propinqua valde mulierum frequentatione nequaquam ei sine illarum interventione liceret, largum ibidem locum inesse qualiter inde sedem mutare valeret dato operis studio cæpit indesinenter agere sedem inferius positam sursum ponere..... Denique sedem optime quam dudum fuerat pulcherrimis marmoribus decoratam condidit, et undique ascensus quibus ad earn gradiatur construxit, pavimentumque altaris erigens pretiosissimis marmoribus stravit.”
page 206 note a “Nam prius altare in humili loco situm fuerat pœne in media testudine, circa quod plebs utriusque sexus conveniens, Pontifex cum clero plebi confuse immixto sacra misteria celebrabat. Sed et sancta corpora Calixti et Cornelii et Calepodii in mediana plaga Ecclesiæ tumulata post tergum populi jacentia non condigne honorificabantur. Quod religiosissimus idem Papa non leve tulit, sed solerti solitoque studio cum intima industria operam adhibens, mirificum opus inchoans optime consummavit. Nam effosso clandestine antro summa cum reverentia prefata sancta corpora elevans in occidentali plaga ejusdem Ecclesiæ, hoc est in ambitu absidis, honorifice collocando occuluit; circa quoque maximæ molis aggravans aggerem, comptum ministris lapidibus tribunal erigens decoravit.
“Supraque confessionem respicientem ad ortum solis miri odoris (? nitoris) celaturas ornatu compagine cooptavit. Infra consurgentem siquidem basin altaris miri metri, et ornatus modulo ex argento perspicue in honorem Sanctæ Dei genetricis semperque Virginis Mariæ, e lata scilicet priori, erexit inter consurgentes pulchri operis gradus. Ante quam presbyterium amplum operosi operis funditus construxit. Cui ex septentrionali plaga lapidibus circum septum matroneum adposuit.”
page 206 note b “Nam ambitum sacri altaris qui strictim in ea (i.e. basilica Constantiniana) fuerat olim constructus largiorem proprio digito designans a fundamentis perfecit, pulchrisque columnis cum marmoribus desuper in gyro sculptis splendide decoravit. Ubi nunc sacra plebs in administrationem sacri largiter consistit officii.”
page 207 note a As at St. Peter's, by Leo III. (795–816): “Pontifex secundum antiquam consuetudinem canonica auctoritate decrevit atque constituit ut dum sacra missarum solemnia in Ecclesia celebrantur nullus ex laicis in presbyterio stare vel redere aut ingredi præsumat, nisi tantum sacra plebs quæ in administratione sacri officii constituta videtur.”
page 207 note b Some fragments, ornamented in this style, are fixed into the walls of the conventual buildings at S. Clemente, and others at the foot of the stairs in the Palazzetto Poli, Rome.
One fragment of a similar character is too curious to be passed over, although there seems no reason to connect it with any church. It is the marble post (Pl. XIV. fig4) which was found a few years ago with some other fragments of like kind in the Coliseum. The work, it will be seen, is of the rudest style, and it is strange to find such a sculpture in such a place. Cav. de Rossi suggested to me that it perhaps originated from some repair made to the Coliseum to fit it for the celebration of games, and that the figure might represent a player at the game of pallone, a game played with a large ball, which from time immemorial has been in vogue in many Italian cities, and which excited feelings of rivalry and partizanship which may be compared to those of the blue and green factions of the Hippodrome of Constantinople.
page 208 note a A very curious slab, somewhat Byzantine in style, is in the church of Atrani near Amalfi; at the cathedral of Sorrento several slabs are inserted in a wall; these are ornamented with eagles, lions, and griffins, one with two winged horses drinking at a fountain, a reminiscence, no doubt, of some antique sculpture in which Pegasus drinking at Hippocrene was represented, while a post bearing the inscription MAT is used as a pinnacle of the façade.
A great many slabs, which have formed parts of such inclosures, are to be found in St. Mark's at Venice, some fixed in the walls on the outside, others used as parapets in front of the galleries; they are of various styles, and probably of very different dates; many were probably brought from Greece, where like slabs may be seen, as in front of the church of Theotokos at Constantinople; others, perhaps, from Aquileia. The pulpit is made up of slabs of porphyry, with little ornament except crosses of the form usual in the 5th or 6th centuries. Some of the posts, with interlacing ornaments of the character of that used in the 8th and 9th centuries, may be seen in the upper part of the vestibule of St. Mark's; and some portions of slabs, rudely worked with knot patterns, are used as entablatures to the columns in the same place.
In front of S. Fosca at Torcello are some slabs approaching very closely in pattern to one of those at S. Clemente at Rome (Pl. VIII. fig. 5), and very curious examples may be found in or about the churches at Ravenna, particularly at S. Apollinare Nuovo, where they perhaps date, from the 6th or 7th centuries. Some slabs with crosses and plaited ornament are built into the wall of a house in the eastern suburbs of Ventimiglia, between Nice and Genoa, having, probably, belonged to a large church which is nearly opposite; and other fragments of both slabs and posts are over the doorways of the cathedral of Albenga, not far from Ventimiglia.
Don Jose Amador de los Rios, in his essay on “El arte Latino-Bizantino en Espana,” has given an engraving (pl. iii. fig. 7) of a fragment much resembling the slabs at S. Maria in Trastevere, which was found among the remains of the basilica of S. Gines at Toledo, a church, probably, of the 8th century.
Careful observation may not improbably discover fragments of like objects.when excavations are made near churches of early date in this country.
page 210 note a In the cotemporary inscription upon it it is called “pyrgus.”
page 210 note b See Webb's Continental Ecclesiology, p. 508.
page 212 note a A most curious account will be found in the Acta Sanctorum of the manner in which the body of Saint Otho, Bishop of Bamberg, was divided and portioned out after his canonization.
page 212 note b “Romanus episcopus …. tumulos eorum (sc. Petri et Pauli) Christi arbitratur altaria.”—St. Jerome, ad Vigilantium, t. ii. p. 395.
page 214 note a At page clxxxi of “Museum Veronense” are engravings of columns which, from the inscription upon them, must have belonged to a ciborium erected in the time of King Liutprand (712–744); they are preserved in the Museum at Verona.
Perhaps the earliest complete ciborium now existing is that in S. Apollinare in Classe at Ravenna, the inscription on which testifies that it was erected in the time of Archbishop Valerius (806–810). It has four columns of marble, supporting slabs cut into arches; the ornaments are bands of interlacing work, peacocks, and crosses, in shallow relief and of poor execution.
page 215 note a The “Cathedra Petri,” which was inclosed by Pope Alexander VII. (1665–1667), in the chair of bronze upheld by colossal statues of doctors of the church in the apse of S, Peter's, is of wood covered with sculptured tablets of ivory separated by bands of minute ornament executed in gold. It has a high back, but no arms, and has rings at the sides through which staves, by which it might be carried, could be passed. Among the subjects of the ivory carvings are various constellations and the Labours ol Hercules.
page 216 note a The church builders of the dark and middle ages at Rome used these memorials with as little scruple as any modern churchwardens might do; fragments are constantly to be seen in pavements, as at SS. Quattro Coronati, where the pavement is full of them, or in the construction of ambones, as at S. Lorenzo f. l. m., and great quantities no doubt exist in like positions, the faces of which are hidden.
page 216 note b See in De Rossi Roma Cristiana Sotterranea, vol. i. pl. iv. fig. 2, an engraving of the memorial of S. Cornelius; the inscription is “Cornelius ․ Martyr ․ Ep.”
page 217 note a In the original entrance to the baptistery at Albenga (between Nice and Genoa) are two monuments, one in the wall on each side, which hare the same form as the arcosolia of the Roman catacombs. The front of the tomb and that of the wall within the arch of one of these are covered with slabs of marble, ornamented with plaited work and crosses, and in the style characteristic of the 7th or 8th centuries. The other monument is quite without ornament. I was unable to find any inscription on either.
page 218 note a Plans and engravings will be found in “Die Basiliken des Christlichen Roms,” by Gutensohn and Knapp (text by Bunsen); in “Die Alt-Christlichen Kirchen,” by Hübsch; in “Chiese di Roma,” by Fontana; and in “Vetera Monimenta,” by Ciampini.
page 220 note a There is here a lacuna in the MS.; the sense is no doubt that the body of the saint rested in the more splendid of the two basilicas.
page 222 note a Plans and engravings will be found in the works of Gutensohn and Knapp, and of Hübsch quoted above.
page 223 note a It is however not so drawn by Gutensohn and Knapp. Has the curve ever been actually measured ?
page 223 note b The part of the Minster at Aix-la-Chapelle which has remained in the least altered state is the interior of the belfry over the entrance: here are perfectly plain square-edged arches, supported by piers without any ornament except simple mouldings at the base and at the springing of the arch. The vault is a plain barrel.
page 223 note c See Gailhabaud, Monuments Anciens et Modernes, vol. ii.