Images
Exterior, western frontispiece and towers
Exterior nave
Exterior transept
Exterior chevet
Interior narthex (if present) and nave
Interior crossing and transept arms
Interior chevet
Panoramas
VR Tour
Historical Images and Plans
Notes
History
Bishop William Tournebu (1179-99) who probably initiated work on the nave had been dean of Bayeux Cathedral. Bishop Hugh de Morville (1208-1238) presided over most of the Gothic construction: he was buried in the choir. An interegnum followed his death; in 1245 Gislanus became bishop,
Date
Begun ca. 1190
Plan
This is an expansive plan: the aisled seven-bay nave dilates into deep lateral chapels; there is a projecting transept and the choir has double aisles extending into a double ambulatory around a seven-segment hemicycle. The deeper axial chapel was rebuilt in the 14th century
Elevation
The nave has three stories of roughly equal height: the arcade is supported on compound piers; the middle level looks like a gallery each bay with two smaler arches occupting a major arch and a lower balustrade. It is, in fact, a triforium. The clerestory has a passage. The main vaults are quadripartite rib vaults. The choir has a pyramidal elevation like Bourges Cathedral with tall ambulatory surrounded by a lower outer space. The main piers support a thick arcade wall organized in a double order; this doubling is reflected in twin columns in the hemicycle. The main vessel has only two stories: the upper level is a tall clerestory with a passage shielded by balustrade. The intermediary supports are slender columns; the choir ambulatory has its own triforium and clerestory Above the crossing space rises an extraordinary lantern tower.
Chronology
There is no documentation for the construction of the new nave, probably begun at the end of the twelfth century. The choir and transept arms, sometimes dated in the mid-13th century were probably begun under Bishop Hugh and finished by around 1235. The life of Bishop Hugh is documented by Lindy Grant, who, noting his foundation of six chapels in the cathedral and his burial in the choir, suggests that he was a building bishop
Significance
The forms of the nave make direct references to Fécamp; work at Coutances parallels that at S-Laurent of Eu. Work on the Coutances nave probably came soon after the nave of Bayeux. Similarities of form in early Norman Gothic -- often looking back to S-Etienne of Caen-- reflect a network of connections amongst Norman prelates who tended to be conservative and to have strong local roots. Grant, hailing the choir of Coutances as "the most beautiful Gothic structure in Normandy," proposed a Norman architect with a background in the choir of S-Etienne of Caen (particularly in relation to the linked spaces of the radiating chapels). Exterior massing in the two chevets is very similar. There are also strong links with the cloister of Mont-Saint-Michel and Hambye.
Location
Bibliography
Beck, B., "Recherches sur les salles capitulaires en Normandie et notamment dans les diocèses d'Avranches, Bayeux et Coutances," Bulletin de la Société des antiquaires de Normandie, vol. 58, 1969, pp 7-118
Colmet-Daage, La cathédrale de Coutances, Paris, 1933.
Daireaux, C., La cathédrale de Coutances: son histoire du Moyen Age au XXe siècle, Coutances, 2008
Delamare, F. A., Essai ur la veritable origine et sur les vicissitudes de la cathédrale de Coutances, Caen, 1841
Fournée, J., Le Jugement dernier; essai d'exégèse d'une oeuvre d'art: le vitrail de la cathédrale de Coutances, Paris, 1964
Grant, Lindy, Architecture and Society in Normandy, New Haven, 2005, 168-174
Guest, G. B., "The prodigal's journey: ideologies of self and city in the Gothic cathedral," Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, vol. 81:1, 2006, pp 35-75
Herschman, J., The thirteenth century chevet of the Cathedral of Coutances, PhD, New York University, 1978
Le Blond, M.; Masson, F., Coutances: un prêtre raconte sa cathédrale, Paris 1999
Le Texier, R., Coutances histoire et description, Coutances, 1973
Lefèvre-Pontalis, E., "Coutances, cathédrale," cong. arch., LXXV, 1908, I, 247-271
Lefranc-Tardif, Y.; Pouhier, E., Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Coutances, Rennes, 2006
Pigeon, E.A., Histoire de la Cathédrale de Coutances, Coutances, 1876
Pinel, L. C., Coutances et sa cathédrale, Coutances, 1963
Quenault, L., Recherches archéologiques sur la ville de Coutances, Marseille, 1977
Stöven, J., "Beschouwingen bij een "bouwschool": vorstelijke elementen an elfde-eeuwse kerken in Normandië," Bouwen en duiden: Studies over architectuur en iconologie, Ed. E. den Hartog, Alphen aan den Rijn, 1994, pp 53-77
Thibout. G., "Remarques sur l'église Saint-Pierre de Coutances," Bull mon, 100, 1941, 265