Abstract

The geometrical elements in the architecture of Lincoln Cathedral, in the vaulting and elevations, can be compared to the geometries described by Robert Grosseteste in his cosmologies. The architecture can be read as a catechism of the cosmologies. The geometries appear in the cathedral for the first time in the history of architecture to explain the generation, emanation, reflection, refraction and rarefaction of light as it forms the material world.

The proposition is that the geometries of the architecture of Lincoln Cathedral can be understood in relation to the geometries which are the basis of the cosmologies of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln 1235–53, in particular De lineis, angulis et figuris (On Lines, Angles and Figures, c. 1235), and De luce (On Light, c. 1215). Many of the architectural forms at Lincoln Cathedral are unprecedented in their appearance or use, and they form the basic vocabulary for the entire development of English Gothic architecture. Their radically new appearance has never been adequately explained. Vocabulary elements such as the ridge pole, tierceron or non-structural rib, lierne or segmented ridge rib, flying rib, conoid springer vault or cone of ribs rising from the springer pole in the elevation, triradial vaulting or three ribs meeting at the ridge pole, double syncopated or overlapping arcading, and the bundled and ribbed umbrella column, all originate in some form or are developed for the first time in Lincoln. All of the geometries which appear for the first time in the architecture appear in the cosmologies of Grosseteste, for the purpose of explaining the generation, emanation, reflection, refraction, and rarefaction of light as it forms the material world in geometrical configurations. The cathedral would thus be a catechism of the geometrical substructure of the physical world, in the tradition of the Timaeus of Plato. There is no evidence that the concepts were dictated by Grosseteste directly to masons, but it is well known that such concepts permeated medieval architecture and city planning, and that they were filtered down through all trades involved in construction of the city and the cathedral. Grosseteste’s cosmologies represent a core achievement of Scholasticism, the synthesis of classical philosophy (cosmology) and Catholic theology (light mysticism), which is embodied in the architecture of the cathedral.