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EXTERIOR DECORATION AT SITES BELONGING TO THE NORMAN KINGS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2022

Rita Wood
Rita Wood*
Affiliation:
Email: isarita2003@yahoo.co.uk
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Abstract

The five most complete royal buildings remaining from the post-Conquest period in Britain have exterior decoration resembling that at churches. It is widely appreciated that the scale of royal buildings demonstrated the earthly power of the Norman kings, but their decoration, largely overlooked, can be shown to proclaim that the power of God was also present there. The sacred power of the king was explicit in the coronation rite at the anointing, and the subsequent investiture with regalia was re-staged by the crown-wearing practised in varying degrees by the Norman kings.

Keywords

William i the Conqueror (1027/8–1087)Lanfranc (c 1010–89)archbishop of Canterburysacred kingshipRomanesque architecture
Type
Research paper
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 102 , September 2022 , pp. 163 - 187
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society of Antiquaries of London

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References

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