Evidence for Flying Buttresses before 1180

Abstract

In the cathedral of Sens, Saint-Lomer in Blois, Voulton, and Saint-Remi in Reims, the stonework together with documents demonstrates explicitly that flying buttresses were built or were intended before 1170. In another ten buildings, including Senlis cathedral and the choir of Notre-Dame in Paris, the lithic evidence is equivocal, yet the possibility that flyers were intended is made more likely by the evidence from the first four buildings. There are significant similarities in the capitals and architectural details in most of these fourteen buildings that highlight the connections among them. The documents and the foliate style of the capitals show that all were constructed before the nave of Notre-Dame in Paris.