Klöster im Hochmittelalter

210 I Thomas Coomans

about monastic architectural visual culture from individual studies on four cases
from the Duchy of Brabant — the Cistercian abbey church of Villers, the
Dominican church in Leuven, the Franciscan church in Maastricht, and the Be-
guinage church in Leuven — that I have published in the recent past.4 How did
innovative architectural forms contribute to new visual expressions and spatial
effects of monastic communities? How did architectural innovations express
political and social transformations as well as changing identities?
Most thirteenth-century monastic buildings discussed in this essay have few
or no written sources allowing precise dating. Therefore we systematically pro-
ceeded to tree-ring analysis of the roof structures in order to place them on the
timeline.5 The time-space context is thirteenth and early-fourteenth century
Duchy of Brabant,6 a feudal state with a strong dynasty,7 an expanding territory,8
mann's theory during my doctoral research, welcomed me as a postdoctoral researcher in his
team at Leiden University (1998-2000), and showed an equal interest to my research when it
broadened beyond the Middle Ages, architectural history, and Europe. I am also very grate-
ful to Anna Bergmans, professor emerita from Ghent University, whose research on medieval
wall paintings, decorative arts, and patronage stimulated my architectural research.
4 Specific publications are mentioned further. General publications include: Thomas
Coomans, Life inside the Cloister. Understanding Monastic Architecture: Tradition, Refor-
mations, Adaptive Reuse (KADOC Studies on Religion, Culture and Society 21), Leuven
2018; Thomas Coomans, L'architecture medievale des ordres mendiants (Franciscains,
Dominicains, Carmes et Augustins) en Belgique et aux Pays-Bas, in: Revue Belge d'Archeo-
logie et d'Histoire de l'Art/Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Oudheidkunde en Kuntgeschiedenis 70
(2001), pp. 3-111; Thomas Coomans, Entre tradition et renouveau: les eglises des ordres re-
guliers dans le diocese de Liege au XIIIe et au XIVe siecle, in: La cathedrale gothique Saint-
Lambert a Liege: une eglise et son contexte, ed. by Benoit Van den Bossche (Etudes et re-
cherches archeologiques de 1'Universite de Liege 108), Liege 2005, pp. 87-95; Thomas
Coomans, Cistercian Nunneries in the Low Countries: The Medieval Architectural Re-
mains, in: Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture 6, ed. by Meredith Parsons Lillich
(Cistercian Studies Series 194), Kalamazoo 2005, pp. 61-131; Thomas Coomans, Entre
France et Empire: l'architecture dans le duche de Brabant au temps de Jeanne de Brabant et de
Wenceslas de Luxembourg (1355-1406), in: Revue de l'Art 166/4 (2009), pp. 9-25.
5 Dates obtained from tree-ring dating are followed with 'd'. Tree-ring analysis was carried
out by the Laboratoire de Dendrochronologie, Universite de Liege (Patrick Hoffsummer)
and Rijksdienst voor Cultureel Erfgoed/Ring- Nederlands Centrum voor Dendrochronolo-
gie (Dirk Jan de Vries and Esther Jansma).
6 Histoire du Brabant: du duche a nos jours/Geschiedenis van Brabant: van het hertogdom tot
heden, ed. by Raymond VAN UYTVEN/Claude Bruneel/Jos KoLDEWEij/Anton W. van de
SANDE/Jan A. van Oudheusden, Zwolle/Leuven 2011, pp. 65-155.
7 Henry I (1190-1235), Henry II (1235-1248), Henry III (1248-1261), John I (1267-1294), John
II (1294-1312), John III (1312-1355). From 1288, the Dukes of Brabant were also Dukes of
Limburg.
8 From 1204, the emperor placed Maastricht under the dual authority of the Duke of Brabant
and the Prince-bishop of Liege. In 1288, after the battle of Worringen and the victory of John
I over the Archbishop of Cologne, the Duchy of Limburg came under the crown of Brabant.