The Wise Master Builder: Platonic Geometry in Plans of Medieval Abbeys and Cathedrals (review)

The Wise Master Builder: Platonic Geometry in Plans of Medieval Abbeys and Cathedrals. By Nigel Hiscock. Aldershot and Brookfield, Vt.: Ashgate, 2000. Pp. xvii+340. $99.95.

Over the past half century, scholars of medieval architecture have become increasingly aware of the central role geometry played in the planning of the great Romanesque and Gothic churches. Considerable evidence has come forward to show how their complex plans, built usually by a succession of masters over long stretches of time, were given coherence and continuity through the use of commonly understood geometric techniques, largely derived from the masters of the classical world.

A consensus has emerged that some form of mathematical preparation was indispensable in the design and construction of these buildings. Though algebra was not yet a useful tool, geometry had been at the heart of architectural design in antiquity. This heritage continued in the Middle Ages. Geometry suited the design methods of medieval builders, and, indeed, was probably a foundation of their practices.

In spite of this consensus, questions remain. Nigel Hiscock's book bravely attempts to deal with them. Among many, the two key issues addressed are: 1) What were the sources of the geometries used by the builders and how were the techniques transmitted? and 2) Was the use of geometry motivated by its practical utility or by its symbolic appropriateness? Geometry had become the primary metaphor for describing the divine scheme of the cosmos. As Wisdom had it: "God ordered the Universe according to measure, number and weight." Was geometry used as means of emulating the Creator in the design of structures intended for His worship, or was the use pragmatic, the only form of mathematics available for the design of ever larger and more complex structures?

Hiscock has laid out an orderly framework in which to address these issues. A series of densely written chapters focuses on the evidence. Copious quotations from ancient, patristic, and medieval writers provide documentation for his arguments. For our purposes, the key chapters are the second, on classical and early Christian sources, and the third, on metaphysical belief and architectural metaphor. Chapter 2 comes to grips with determining which of the ancient geometrical texts were most important to medieval builders, the candidates being Euclid, Pythagoras, and the Timaeus of Plato. Hiscock comes down strongly on the side of Plato, citing his central role in the formulation of medieval cosmology. He discovers number sequences from the Timaeus in many texts and in the geometric formulas of building designs.

Chapter 3 addresses the second question. Although wisely circumspect in his discussion, Hiscock decidedly favors the case for the symbolic and spiritual motivation for the use of geometry over the pragmatic. In the next chapter he turns to a series of plans of large Romanesque and Gothic churches to demonstrate the role of Platonic geometry in their designs.

A critique of this work has already begun with the author himself. He is aware of the many possible pitfalls and brings them out with admirable directness. He is less forthcoming on the basic dilemma of this kind of investigation: the problem of circularity. Medieval builders had to use some form of mathematics in the design of their buildings. Geometry was the only one both applicable and available at the required level of sophistication. However, during many centuries of Christianity, especially since St. Augustine, it had become the standard metaphor used by theologians for describing the divine harmony of God's universe and His methodology of creation. Is it really possible to separate the two motivations? An alternate proposal might be that, as they were building churches, medieval builders imitated God's methods in designing their "houses of God." There could be no better model of excellence in design and solidity than the divinely created universe. This view combines the pragmatic and spiritual in a way concordant with the theocentric worldview of people in...