Space in the Medieval West : Places, Territories, and Imagined Geographies

In the last two decades, research on spatial paradigms and practices has gained momentum across disciplines and vastly different periods, including the field of medieval studies. Responding to this ’spatial turn’ in the humanities, the essays collected here generate new ideas about how medieval space was defined, constructed, and practiced in Europe, particularly in France. Essays are grouped thematically and in three parts, from specific sites, through the broader shaping of territory by means of socially constructed networks, to the larger geographical realm. The resulting collection builds on existing scholarship but brings new insight, situating medieval constructions of space in relation to contemporary conceptions of the subject. Cover 1 Contents 6 List of Figures 8 List of Maps 10 List of Tables 12 Notes on Contributors 14 Acknowledgments 18 List of Abbreviations 20 Introduction 22 Part I Places, Monuments, and Cities 40 1 Squarely Built: an Inquiry into the Sources of Ad Quadratum Geometry in Lombard Architecture 42 2 The Geometry of Rib Vaulting at Notre-Dame of Paris: Architectural or Exegetical Space? 58 3 Gothic Drawing and the Shaping of Space 72 4 Marking the City for Christ: Spatiality and the Invention of Utrecht’s Medieval Cross of Churches 98 Part II Spatial Networks and Territories 118 5 From Plebs to Parochia: The Perception of the Church in Space from the Ninth to the Twelfth Century 120 6 New Masters of Space: The Creation of Communication Networks in the West 136 7 Inventing Legal Space: From Regional Custom to Common Law in the Coutumiers of Medieval France 154 Part III Cartography and Imagined Geographies 178 8 The Image of France in the Beatus Map of Saint-Sever 180 9 France in the Two Geographical Works of Al-Idrīsī 196 10 From Gaul to the Kingdom of France: Representations of French Space in the Geographical Texts of the Middle Ages 218 11 The Definition and Boundaries of Eucharistic Space in the Grail Prose Romances 240 Frequently Cited Sources 254 Index 256