Cathedral Building

• • William and Lanfranc set out a major building programme
  • most visible change was cathedrals
  • by 1100s, majority of Saxon abbeys and cathedrals were rebuilt in the Norman's favourable architectural style
  • preferred the grandeur style of Romanesque architecture
• How did they build cathedrals?

  used forced labour
• What were the cathedrals intended for?

  to show how God favoured the new regime, and permanently display Norman power and prestige
• Lanfranc's Reforms

  • establishing synods - ecclesiastical councils to spread the reform message and improve authority over diocese
  • moving cathedrals to larger towns/cities - helped to centralise the Church
  • new Church hierarchy - more centralised system, each role had own duties and answered to someone above them
  • developing parishes - number of village churches doubled in 1070-1170
  • ending clerical marriage