Bible Encyclopedias
Norman Architecture

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

is that species of architectural style which is counted a part of the Romanesque (q.v.), and which, as its name implies, originated among and was chiefly used by the Normans (q.v.). Soon after their conquest of the north of France they began to erect very large churches and cathedrals in memory of their victories. Their conquests supplied them with the means for erecting such large edifices, which they desired as monuments worthy of their great conquests. They accordingly expanded the dimensions of many of the small churches then common in France, while to a great extent retaining the style of the buildings. They seem also to have borrowed some of their ideas from the Rhine. (See GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE).

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