Marle (Aisne, France) - Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption
- 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.
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)
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- Project A - 1180s - Phase 1 - apse, south (b)
Foundations and bases to east and south chapel
- Project A - 1180s - Phase 2 - east
Eastern aisle capitals in chapels with transept walls and start of the south nave aisle wall to Ws2, vaults later; the apse vaulting caps level with the lower string course in transepts, while in the west this sits under the triforium, but in east this is as high as it was meant to go; the apse windows would then have been arched over above the caps [the lower string could have been intended to be the base of the clerestory windows]
- Project A - 1190s - Phase 3 - apse (c)
Raised height of crossing and transepts with blank walls on the east, and in the apse by steeply pointed and peaked arches for a tall vault and very tall windows
- Project A - 1190s - Phase 3 - crossing (c)
Crossing shafts with simple well-designed caps built with south transept to the clerestory level with smallish windows while the start of tall triforium in WS1 made much smaller after first shaft with the south at all times ahead of north
- Project A - 1200s - Phase 4 - W5 (a)
W5 aisle caps
- Project A - 1210s - Phase 5 - nave (t)
Nave triforium
- Project A - 1220s - Phase 6 - s transept (c)
South transept
- Project A - 1220s - Phase 7 - tower
Tower
- Project B - Later - Phase 7 -
Rest of triforium and nave clerestory, and north transept, south aisle wall 2-6 and external wall of the north aisle from Wn1, including dado; also the west wall and even later nave drum piers together both sides, drum caps all to same template