Brixworth and the English Basilica

Abstract

Brixworth church, of which the original dedication is lost, lies a few miles north of Northampton in the center of the old Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, of which it is one of the greatest ornaments. It is the least local and most international of the early English churches, and is in every respect one of the most important early Saxon churches extant, both in itself and in its bearings on Continental work, being in fact the most perfectly preserved example of the early English church of the classical revival of the early Middle Ages. Indeed it is not far from being the most perfectly preserved of the entire European classical revival of the late eighth and early ninth centuries. It seems likely moreover that it antedates any of the Continental survivors. As evidence of the nature and drift of that revival it has been surprisingly neglected by the Continental critics. As we shall see, the inspiration of Brixworth does not come from Italy, but from the Middle East. It represents a classical revival based on what may be called “Syrian” influences, using the term as generic for all Middle Eastern types, rather than Italian influences. It is no accident that when Clapham wanted a historical example for Brixworth he chose Kalb Lauzeh in Syria.1 The probable date of Brixworth is not the traditional seventh century, but about the middle of the eighth, for which reasons are fully given below. It should be therefore about contemporary with Fulrad's Saint-Denis, and still somewhat pre-Carolingian. It would seem therefore that, pari passu with a Continental revival, there went a Syrian revival, or else that the Italian character of the Carolingian renaissance has been over-stressed. This is the kind of question which Brixworth raises and to which it demands an answer, which has not yet been given.