City and Cosmos: The Medieval World in Urban Form

Front Cover
Reaktion Books, Sep 1, 2009 - History - 256 pages

In City and Cosmos, Keith D. Lilley argues that the medieval mind considered the city truly a microcosm: much more than a collection of houses, a city also represented a scaled-down version of the very order and organization of the cosmos. Drawing upon a wide variety of sources, including original accounts, visual art, science, literature, and architectural history, City and Cosmos offers an innovative interpretation of how medieval Christians infused their urban surroundings with meaning.

Lilley combines both visual and textual evidence to demonstrate how the city carried Christian cosmological meaning and symbolism, sharing common spatial forms and functional ordering. City and Cosmos will not only appeal to a diverse range of scholars studying medieval history, archaeology, philosophy, and theology; but it will also find a broad audience in architecture, urban planning, and art history. With more of the world’s population inhabiting cities than ever before, this original perspective on urban order and culture will prove increasingly valuable to anyone wishing to better understand the role of the city in society.

 

Contents

Introduction THE CITYCOSMOS IDEAL
7
CITYCOSMOS IMAGINED
13
CITYCOSMOS BUILT
75
CITYCOSMOS LIVED
129
CITIES OF GOD?
185
References
189
Select Bibliography
231
Acknowledgements
246
Photo Acknowledgements
247
Index
248
Copyright

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City and Cosmos: The Medieval World in Urban Form
Keith D. Lilley
No preview available - 2009

Common terms and phrases

Alan of Lille Alfred’s Aquinas architects astrolabe Bastides body politic Boethius Boogaart Bristol Bruges built forms burhs Bury St Edmunds Calcidius Cambridge celestial centre chapter Chester Christ’s body Christian circle citing city and cosmos city’s civic Commentary Corpus Christi plays cosmogenic cosmogony cosmography cosmological symbolism created depicted divine earthly city embodied England English example Florentine New Towns Friedman gates Geometrical Knowledge God’s Grenade-sur-Garonne gromatic heavenly city heavenly Jerusalem High Middle Ages History Holy Hugh of St Ibid illus Jerusalem Kühnel Late Medieval later Middle Ages Latin West layout London manuscript mayor measuring Medieval Europe medieval urban microcosm Neoplatonic pageants performed Practical Geometry procession Quadrivium rectilinear ritual ruling body sacred geometry Scripture shape social and spatial social body square St Victor street-blocks surveying surveyors texts thirteenth century Timaeus town’s towns and cities trans twelfth century urban body urban forms urban landscapes urban laws walls

About the author (2009)

Keith D. Lilley is a senior lecturer in human geography at Queen’s University, Belfast. He is the author of many books and articles, including Urban Life in the Middle Ages, 1000–1450.

Bibliographic information

TitleCity and Cosmos: The Medieval World in Urban Form
AuthorKeith D. Lilley
PublisherReaktion Books, 2009
ISBN1861897545, 9781861897541
Length256 pages
Subjects ›  › 

History / Europe / Medieval
History / General
  
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