Note 307 — Chapter IX · The Gothic Art of Burgundy[267]

Tournus abbey (Saône-et-Loire), when founded, was affiliated with the Columban tradition. From 946 to 980 the church was rebuilt, and again from 1008 to 1028, under the auspices of William of Volpiano, abbot of St. Bénigne. On its outer walls are Lombard mural arcaded bands. The massive forechurch, or narthex of three bays, has two stories of different dates, the lower one about 950, and the upper about 980. The vault of the latter—a cradle carried on brackets—is the earliest example extant in France of a wide-span masonry roof at such a height. Tournus exemplified the militant spirit of Burgundy’s Romanesque school by experimenting with every kind of vault, cradle, half cradle, transverse cradle, and groin. The pier arcades of the main church are of William of Volpiano’s time. The transept and choir are early XII century, and in that same period the reconstructed nave was covered by an experiment in stone roofing which never made a school; it had been used in Persia in the VI century. A series of half barrels borne on lintels were placed side by side across the wide nave, from north to south, instead of one long tunnel vault from east to west. The system allowed for the better lighting of the upper church, and as each barrel vault was buttressed by the one next it, only at the east and west ends of the edifice was abutment required. Congrès Archéologique, 1899, pp. 223, 236; and 1909; Clement Heaton, in Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 3d series, 1909.