DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41589#0029
Lynne M. Broughton
Cambridge
The Metaphysics os Light and the Metaphysics
os Contradiction: A Study os St. Hugh’s
Choir, Lincoln Cathedral
St. Hugh’s Choir in Lincoln cathedral has received much attention from architec-
tural historians yet it remains something of an enigma. More than most gothic churches
it asks for interpretation. Various interpretations have been given, none of which is
entirely satisfactory1.
Towards the end of his paper on St. Hugh’s Choir — Peter Kidson, in attempting to
articulate the special character of the building, suggests that it is best understood as
a reliquary shrine turned inside out2. He refers to the sumptuousness of its decoration,
to the ’’Trondheim” piers, to the spandrel busts in the aisle arcading. The overall effect
is, he argues, like that of such objects as the Annoschrein in Siegburg, encrusted with
jewels and adorned with busts of the apostles along the sides. I feel emboldened to
disagree with this analysis by the fact that it comes at the end of his paper, almost as
a footnote to his magisterial discussion of the form of the orginal vault of the apse and
its relation to the surviving vault of the choir.
If it were the Angel Choir that were likened to a reliquary casket then the simile
would be well taken: it was clearly built as a shrine — for St. Hugh — and displays the
conspicuous ornament and figurative sculpture common to such objects. But the earlier
architecture, which as Kidson points out has an incredibly strong aesthetic flavour, does
not seem to me to carry quite the connotations he suggests. "Clerical exclusiveness”,
’’opulence”, ’’ostentatious vulgarity” are, for him, the key words that capture the
building’s ssavour. I shall offer a different analysis, but this will arise out of
a consideration of what other commentators have thought to be the building’s unique
ssavour.
Lawernce Hoey argues that variety of pier forms is a characteristic of the Early
English style especially prevalent in the east and central midlands; that is, relatively
close to Lincoln3. Hoey suggests that this variety was a deliberate choice on the part of
architects to such an extent that rest of the bay design was organised to fit in with it. In
particular the tendency for vaulting shafts to rest on corbels somewhere above the level
of the pier capitals was due to the need not to interfere with the pier below. This
contrasts with the standard French bay design in which the shafts ran from the ssoor to
the vault springing, thereby clearly marking the vertical division between each bay.
The nave of Lincoln is an example of this tendency; the piers are of various forms
and the vaulting shafts are supported on corbels in the spandrels of the main arcade.
27
Cambridge
The Metaphysics os Light and the Metaphysics
os Contradiction: A Study os St. Hugh’s
Choir, Lincoln Cathedral
St. Hugh’s Choir in Lincoln cathedral has received much attention from architec-
tural historians yet it remains something of an enigma. More than most gothic churches
it asks for interpretation. Various interpretations have been given, none of which is
entirely satisfactory1.
Towards the end of his paper on St. Hugh’s Choir — Peter Kidson, in attempting to
articulate the special character of the building, suggests that it is best understood as
a reliquary shrine turned inside out2. He refers to the sumptuousness of its decoration,
to the ’’Trondheim” piers, to the spandrel busts in the aisle arcading. The overall effect
is, he argues, like that of such objects as the Annoschrein in Siegburg, encrusted with
jewels and adorned with busts of the apostles along the sides. I feel emboldened to
disagree with this analysis by the fact that it comes at the end of his paper, almost as
a footnote to his magisterial discussion of the form of the orginal vault of the apse and
its relation to the surviving vault of the choir.
If it were the Angel Choir that were likened to a reliquary casket then the simile
would be well taken: it was clearly built as a shrine — for St. Hugh — and displays the
conspicuous ornament and figurative sculpture common to such objects. But the earlier
architecture, which as Kidson points out has an incredibly strong aesthetic flavour, does
not seem to me to carry quite the connotations he suggests. "Clerical exclusiveness”,
’’opulence”, ’’ostentatious vulgarity” are, for him, the key words that capture the
building’s ssavour. I shall offer a different analysis, but this will arise out of
a consideration of what other commentators have thought to be the building’s unique
ssavour.
Lawernce Hoey argues that variety of pier forms is a characteristic of the Early
English style especially prevalent in the east and central midlands; that is, relatively
close to Lincoln3. Hoey suggests that this variety was a deliberate choice on the part of
architects to such an extent that rest of the bay design was organised to fit in with it. In
particular the tendency for vaulting shafts to rest on corbels somewhere above the level
of the pier capitals was due to the need not to interfere with the pier below. This
contrasts with the standard French bay design in which the shafts ran from the ssoor to
the vault springing, thereby clearly marking the vertical division between each bay.
The nave of Lincoln is an example of this tendency; the piers are of various forms
and the vaulting shafts are supported on corbels in the spandrels of the main arcade.
27