Abstract

At the turn of the fifteenth century, architectural ethics acquired renewed prominence in England. A long-established discourse that had been developed by major figures in Europe’s intellectual history, and that threatened to reject all but the most utilitarian church-building projects, was given new energy, as well as a new English vocabulary and a newly extensive application, in heretical tracts and poems. At the same time, the poet most associated with the Lancastrian court, John Lydgate, was translating a lavish paean to ingenious and luxurious craftsmanship, while his patron’s circle was engaged in a wave of lavish building projects in cathedrals, universities, and parish churches—and, indeed, was prosecuting Lollards for their criticism of the same. Most remarkable, however, is that, having been scrupulously suppressed in the 1410s, a concern for restrained architecture would re-emerge twenty years later as a widely shared architectural ideology among England’s elite, including the king, Henry VI. For thirty years, it would come to shape a series of significant building projects. This article argues that this change must be understood as representing the reconstitution of a number of ideas and claims, necessitated by the dissolution of the interdependent antagonisms of the 1410s, in the context of newly influential spiritual, ethical, and sensory discourses.

摘要

在十五世纪之交，建筑伦理在英国重新获得了重视。由欧洲思想史上的主要人物开发的历史悠久的话语，并威胁要拒绝除最实用的教堂建设项目之外的所有项目，它被赋予了新的能量，以及新的英语词汇和新的广泛应用，在异端传单和诗歌中。与此同时，与兰开斯特宫廷关系最密切的诗人约翰·利德盖特（John Lydgate）正在将一首奢华的赞歌转化为巧妙而奢华的工艺，而他的赞助人的圈子则在大教堂、大学和教区教堂进行了一波奢华的建筑工程——并且，事实上，正在起诉 Lollards 的批评。然而，最值得注意的是，在 1410 年代被严格压制后，二十年后，对受限建筑的关注将重新出现，成为包括国王亨利六世在内的英格兰精英广泛共享的建筑意识形态。三十年来，它将塑造一系列重要的建筑项目。本文认为，这种变化必须被理解为代表了许多观念和主张的重构，这是在 1410 年代相互依存的对抗的解散所必需的，在新的有影响力的精神、伦理和感官话语的背景下。