DOI article:
Becker-Hounslow, Steffani: Malbork Chapter House and Grand Master's "Remter" versus the "Briefkapelle" at St. Mary's in Lübeck: dependent or independent solutions?
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48915#0390
381
STEFFANIBECKER-HOUNSLOW
University of East Anglia
Malbork Chapter House and Grand Master’s
“Remter” versus the “Briefkapelle”
at St. Mary ’s in Lilbeck:
dependent or independent Solutions?
The ąuestion whether the vaults of the Malbork [Marienburg] chapter house (1330s)
and the Grand Master’s Remter (1330s, also referred to in English as the Great
Refectory) influenced the so-called Briefkapelle in Lilbeck (ca. 1310), or vice
versa, has played a key role in the discussion of early decorative vaulting on the continent.
Ali rooms have umbrella vaults that are supported on free-standing columns (ills. 1,2, 3).
The umbrellas consist of triradials, the three-pronged rib figurę, and are used over the
whole space of the hall rooms.
In order to support his theory that triradial umbrella vaults originated in Prussia, K. H.
Clasen ąuestioned the 1310 dating of the Briefkapelle at St. Mary’s in Liibeck, which is
provided by a contemporary inscription on the western side of the chapel1. He dates
the chapel not earlier than 1320 and does not believe that Lilbeck, situated in what he
defined as a Kolonialland mit yerschiedenen Strbrmmgen und Einstromungen could have
sent important architectural impulses to Prussia2. He argues that the chapter house
at Malbork, which he dates to 1300, provided the source for the Lilbeck vault. Indeed, he
believes that a Prussian architect (“ein preuBischer Architekt”) was responsible for it: both
rooms are covered by transversal ribs that provide the basie frame for the insertion of the
triradials (ills. 4, 5). The omission of radial ribs in the Briefkapelle happened, according
to Clasen, because of the different proportions of the room3. The source for the Malbork
vaults, he continues, could be found in the chapter house of the former Cistercian abbey
of Pelplin, where a central eight-pointed star vault is surrounded by spring vaults, and
1 K. H. CLASEN, Deutsche Gewólbe der Spatgotik, Berlin, 1958, pp. 40ff. The inscription reads: Turri principia dant
M tria C duo quina Tunc q’ capellapiafuit hec tibi structa Maria. [One dates the beginning of the tower to 1310 and at
that time this holy chapel was built in your honour, Mary], Clasen argues that the inscription is not contemporary with
the building of the tower because the use of the word “tunc” would signal temporal distance to the year 1310.
2 ibid. p. 44.
3 ibid. p. 46.
STEFFANIBECKER-HOUNSLOW
University of East Anglia
Malbork Chapter House and Grand Master’s
“Remter” versus the “Briefkapelle”
at St. Mary ’s in Lilbeck:
dependent or independent Solutions?
The ąuestion whether the vaults of the Malbork [Marienburg] chapter house (1330s)
and the Grand Master’s Remter (1330s, also referred to in English as the Great
Refectory) influenced the so-called Briefkapelle in Lilbeck (ca. 1310), or vice
versa, has played a key role in the discussion of early decorative vaulting on the continent.
Ali rooms have umbrella vaults that are supported on free-standing columns (ills. 1,2, 3).
The umbrellas consist of triradials, the three-pronged rib figurę, and are used over the
whole space of the hall rooms.
In order to support his theory that triradial umbrella vaults originated in Prussia, K. H.
Clasen ąuestioned the 1310 dating of the Briefkapelle at St. Mary’s in Liibeck, which is
provided by a contemporary inscription on the western side of the chapel1. He dates
the chapel not earlier than 1320 and does not believe that Lilbeck, situated in what he
defined as a Kolonialland mit yerschiedenen Strbrmmgen und Einstromungen could have
sent important architectural impulses to Prussia2. He argues that the chapter house
at Malbork, which he dates to 1300, provided the source for the Lilbeck vault. Indeed, he
believes that a Prussian architect (“ein preuBischer Architekt”) was responsible for it: both
rooms are covered by transversal ribs that provide the basie frame for the insertion of the
triradials (ills. 4, 5). The omission of radial ribs in the Briefkapelle happened, according
to Clasen, because of the different proportions of the room3. The source for the Malbork
vaults, he continues, could be found in the chapter house of the former Cistercian abbey
of Pelplin, where a central eight-pointed star vault is surrounded by spring vaults, and
1 K. H. CLASEN, Deutsche Gewólbe der Spatgotik, Berlin, 1958, pp. 40ff. The inscription reads: Turri principia dant
M tria C duo quina Tunc q’ capellapiafuit hec tibi structa Maria. [One dates the beginning of the tower to 1310 and at
that time this holy chapel was built in your honour, Mary], Clasen argues that the inscription is not contemporary with
the building of the tower because the use of the word “tunc” would signal temporal distance to the year 1310.
2 ibid. p. 44.
3 ibid. p. 46.