© 1996 Minott Kerr. All rights reserved.
(Slides Left and Right) Notre-Dame at Jumièges has hundreds of marks inscribed into its masonry. Although many of these are later stray marks or graffiti, others are eleventh-century construction marks. These construction marks occur only on original masonry, are generally consistent in form and function, and are found in a relatively limited number of locations.
The vast majority of the marks were scratched free hand into the masonry surface with a sharp point. Though some are wider and deeper, the marks generally are not more than one millimeter wide or one millimeter deep. Their size varies. The largest, are Xs found on some of the nave arcade piers extending diagonally between the four corners of a block. Others may be only a few centimeters in length. (Slides Left and Right)
The simplest marks at Jumièges are alignment marks, vertical guidelines used to align two elements above each other, such as we see here left and right. (Slide Left) Certain responds in the galleries have a vertical line scratched at the center of a face indicating the center line for the colonettes between the responds. (Slides Left and Right) Similarly, vertical guidelines were often scratched immediately below where a window was planned, to establish where the opening began and ended, such as we see here for the window in the north stairway to the west tribune. (Slide Left) Setting marks that indicate how far a block in the course above should extend laterally over the marked block below were also used, such as the one we see here for a window lintel in the southwest stairtower.
(Slide Right) The most common guidelines were those used to mark the openings of the put-log holes for holding scaffolding beams. Presumably the blocks were marked and the holes cut immediately before being set in place. Similar sorts of cutting marks are often found on blocks which have been notched to accommodate an adjacent block (Slides Left and Right). Other cutting marks were used for blocking out sculpted capitals. The parallel lines in the right slide establish the height of the astragal for the capital on the left. (PAUSE) All the marks we've seen so far are commonly found in Romanesque buildings in Normandy and elsewhere.
In addition to these sorts of construction or assembly marks are two types of marks that I have not yet found elsewhere. (Slides Left and Right) (PAUSE & READ SLOWLY) The first, are marks found to either side of the wall responds, in the west half of the aisles. These pairs of marks establish the width of plinth for the nave arcade columns. (PAUSE) (Slides Left and Right) The second group of marks used at Jumièges, that I have not yet found in other buildings of the period are the more difficult to comprehend. Approximately sixty in all, these marks are, for the most part, Xs or diagonal slashes, but sometimes arrows or letters. (READ SLOWLY:) Though we cannot yet explain the function of all these marks, the vast majority appear at critical junctures of construction and therefore seem to establish a sort of datum that identified to the work crews particularly critical levels that were used as stopping levels in construction.
Generally these marks are more visible than the others. Sometimes they are simply larger, as is this prominent X on the middle pier of the south nave arcade. (Slide Left) At other times, these marks are more deeply cut, as, for example, this one on the left from the southwest stairtower. Though hard to see in this slide, the deep cutting makes the mark especially visible, suggesting that it was particularly important. (Slide Right)
The location of this mark in this stairtower is not arbitrary. It occurs in the course immediately above the apex of the arch opening between the tower and the space above the west tribune, at the level of the third course below the top of the eleventh-century nave. Thus, the mark is just below the level where the tower separates from the main bulk of the church and begins to rise free, clearly a critical level in the construction of this part of the church. (Slide Right) Another mark is found at this same level in the northwest tower. Apparently both of these marks served to indicate the uppermost limit of construction in their respective towers. When this height had been attained in each tower, someone, presumably the master mason, cut the mark in this block to indicate to the work crews that they should construct the surrounding wall to this course and no higher, allowing the master mason and his crews to think through what followed above this critical level.
As the marks at the same level in each of the two stairtowers suggest, such marks at Jumièges were often used in conjunction with each other. (Slides Left and Right) A particularly complex series of Xs and diagonals were used at the west end of the nave and aisles to indicate levels crucial to the construction process. On the north, the lowest of these marks is an X on the fourth course of the west dosseret of north wall of the aisle. The marked block is indicated by the lower white card on the right of the left slide. This X corresponds to the top course of a construction phase, the end of which is indicated in the stairway to the west by a large notched ashlar, set above the westernmost stone of the course with the X, and by an awkward bevel between this notched block and the one immediately below it. Thus, our X apparently established the top course of a construction phase that served as a general leveling or stopping course up to which construction crews were expected to build before proceeding any further. (Slide Right)
This level also corresponds to the course on which was set the lintel over the small north door of the west wall of the nave, again indicated by the lowest white card. This is a particularly crucial level for the construction of the west part of the church, and it appears that the stopping level indicated by this X was intended to insure that this level was maintained in all areas for which it was critical. To see just how crucial this level is we need to look more closely. (SLIDE LEFT)
The different parts of the north side and south sides of the porch were linked by lintels spanning the doorways between them. Since the lintels linked the independent parts of the porch, the top of the jambs on either side needed to be at the same level when the lintels were set in place. And since the lintels of the two west doors of the nave were to be set at the same height, their jambs needed to be at the same height. (Slide Left)
The level of the top of the course supporting the lintel of the south door's north jamb (shown on the right of the left slide) is at the same level as those of the north door. The top course of the south door's south jamb, however, which continues the coursing of the south aisle, was notched, to lower it to the same height as its counterpart to the north. Thus, the level of the bottom of the south door's lintel was established by that of the lintel on the north, which in turn was established by the level of the X on the fourth course of the dosseret in the north aisle. Thus, the X in the fourth course at the end of the north aisle established both the level for stopping a construction phase and the level at which the lintels of the small west doors of the nave and porch were to be set.
The awkward bevel in the north stair to the tribune, between the marked course and the one above it with the notched block, indicates that changes were made in the subsequent phase of construction. The awkwardness resulting from stopping the earlier and starting the later phase also suggests that there might have been some difficulties in continuing this part of the building, or at least some hesitation on the part of the masons.
At the west end of the nave and aisles, a second level is indicated by four marks, one on each side of west piers of the nave arcade. The marked course is indicated in my slides by the second set of white cards. All four marks occur in the seventh course above the bases of the west piers, at the level of the springing of the relieving arches above the small west doors of the nave and the lateral doorways of the porch. The springing of the relieving arches above these doors also correspond to the springing of the barrel vaults of the passageway behind them. Thus, these marks probably established a general stopping level to assure that a consistent level was maintained for the springing of the arches and the vaults. And since the relieving arches were erected before the surrounding walls, this marked level would have also served as a stopping point, while the relieving arches and the vaults behind them were erected. These marks, then, served much the same purpose as the X at the end of the north aisle. Importantly, these marks are all located on the west piers of the nave arcades, the masonry most closely associated with the critical areas and the most likely to interfere if construction continued too far. Above, other sets of marks were used in the west end of the church to mark similarly critical levels as construction proceeded.
Elsewhere at Jumièges such marks were used to indicate other key levels. (Slides Left and Right) An arrow on the northwest crossing pier established the halting level for the lower portion of the adjacent nave arcade column. (Slide Left) A number of large Xs on the nave piers indicated the height of the window sills on the facing aisle wall. (Slides Left and Right) And deeply carved Xs in the northwest stairway of the crossing tower established the level for the apex of the original nave roof on the crossing tower's west wall.
Clearly, the leveling marks at Notre-Dame did not serve the purpose normally attributed to so-called masons' marks. Rather than serving as signatures to facilitate payment, as has often been suggested for such marks found elsewhere, our marks helped control construction by establishing the highest course up to which the crews were to build the nearby walls. In aiding the crews in this way, the leveling marks are like the construction and assembly marks discussed at the beginning of my talk that directly aided the construction of the church by allowing the master mason to indicate basic architectural features to the work crews. The marks were thus a means of communication between the master mason and the crews. That so many marks were used, suggests not only the care with which Notre-Dame was constructed, but also that the master mason wanted to leave nothing to chance. The marks, then, may indicate that a gap existed between the master mason's conception of this large and complicated building and the abilities of the crews who constructed it. In addition, the leveling marks also establish that construction was halted on a regular basis. Presumably, halting in this methodical way at critical levels allowed the master mason to think through on a regular basis what followed in the subsequent phases of construction. This systematic process suggests that design and construction at Notre-Dame were tightly integrated. Thank-you.
addendum:
The vaults of the passages ways of the porch were the earliest vaults constructed in the building and perhaps special care was felt to be needed to assure that their construction proceeded smoothly.
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Created: 18 April 1996
Last Modified: 21 May 1996