- Building Information
Puiseaux
(Loiret, France)
Notre-Dame
Surveyed: 1977, 1980-83, 2015
- Locator Map
Puiseaux (Loiret, France) - Notre-Dame
- Disclaimer
The dating found here is based on the work of John James, and is meant on this site to serve as a starting point. James' dating is derived from a system that uses his interpretation of the development of capitals over time as the basis for chronology, among other factors. His goal is to refine the dating to within years rather than decades. I have not fully embraced James' methodology, and will be developing this page from its current state to one which is admittedly more conservative. The relative expenditure values found in the Timeline are also based on James' work, and I believe these to be reasonably reliable. They are intended only to give a sense of the amount of work involved in each decade.

I have added the idea of the "project" as a way of separating work in buildings. In my mind, a "project" is a discrete section of work in a building that resulted from the one-time acquisition of funding. "Projects" are generally separated by at least a decade where no work was being done. It is my view that it would have been unwise to start a "project" that could not be finished and protected from the elements, and as such a "project" usually involved a wing or multiple wings of a building, from floor to roof. Rural churches, which could only secure small amounts of funding at irregular intervals, often were the result of many small projects, while the great churches, which benefitted from relatively consistent funding, may have involved only a few large projects.
- Timeline with Relative Expenditure (if available, in building units)







- Project A - 1130s - Phase 1 - choir
Choir probably single cell with thick walls, dated ex plaque in which nave 2 bays where now there is one; the square pilaster ES1s part original church and above the archway ES1-e is square and ES1e rectangular; to north and south the squashed bases are b
- Project B - 1190s - Phase 2 - choir walls
North choir aisles, south sits on earlier wall; all bases rectangular; choir walls En2-Es2 all round as piers have rectangular pilasters; with capitals to En1,2,3,4,5, EN5, ES5, etc.
- Project B - 1200s - Phase 3 - east (a)
East aisle vaults; there is a thin stone 1 course above arcade shows signs of a string course being chopped off and suggesting that work could have stopped just above this in 1210, ready for a roof and for occupation in 1212.
- Project B - 1210s - Phase 4 - s nave (a)
South nave doubled arcade with heights to match earlier, and remnants of arcade and low clerestory string removed with the large arches and south aisle of C15
- Project B - 1220s - Phase 5 - choir (c)
Choir clerestory
- Project B - 1230s - Phase 6 - n crossing
En1 and Wn1 crossing piers with squashed tori, octagonal plinths; also the wall Wn1-2 with the decision made here for taller aisles; EN1 replaces earlier and there is a joint to west of En1.
- Project B - 1230s - Phase 7 - west-n
West-n door
- Project B - 1230s - Phase 8 - nave pier
Pillier cantonee with triplet shafts, built to capitals; the transept joint to east of n1 part of the decision for wider bays; all erected within early nave.
- Project B - 1230s - Phase 9 - nave (a)
Nave aisles, n3-5 drums and wall
- Project B - 1230s - Phase 10 - w portal
West portal
- Project B - 1240s - Phase 11 - n transept
North transept string where the decision was made in N1 crossing caps where first triforium cap has square impost; there was preparation for this to string in the south where work stopped, their being no trace of triforium in S1 piers..
- Project B - 1240s - Phase 12 - nave (t)
Octagonal triforium capitals for a glazed triforium and windows
- Project C - Later - Phase 13 -
Later pilasters added over south nave piers, leaving traces of earlier walls projecting, and with it the wide south aisle C15.
- Primary Sources for Dating
There are no primary source documents for this building