ABSTRACT
Catalan cathedral canonries underwent significant architectural redevelopment during the 11th century: redevelopment that coincided with a period of cultural prosperity and political stability. The changes that these entailed were based on existing traditions that can be traced back to the 6th century, but which survive only in the documentary record, or can be seen in an exceptional architectural ensemble such as Terrassa (which lost its episcopal status in the 8th century). The following paper emphasizes the importance of this early medieval substrate, which predates the 11th-century reforms, as well as innovations that were developed as a part of the reforms themselves. At the same time, I argue that the reconstruction of Catalan cathedral complexes cannot be attributed to the agency of a single man – the famous Bishop Oliba of Vic. Rather, these architectural changes must be attributed to a group of bishops, all of whom participated in a programme of cultural renovation. From a material point of view, I will consider a series of ‘church complexes’ known from documents, which, with the exception of Seu d’Urgell, share the tendency, common in European Romanesque architecture, to bring together separate cultic spaces into a single building.
