Editing St Albans Cathedral (section)

===Norman abbey===
{{more citations needed|section|date=August 2022}}
[[Image:St Albans Cathedral Interior.jpg|thumb|upright|The nave. The north wall (left) features a mix of Norman arches dating back to 1077 and arches in the [[Early English style]] of 1200.<ref>''St Albans Cathedral'', Jarrold Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0-7117-1514-1}}, p. 9</ref>]]
Much of the current layout and proportions of the structure date from the first [[Normans|Norman]] abbot, [[Paul of Caen]] (1077–1093).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/herts/vol2/pp483-488|title=St Albans abbey: History - British History Online|website=www.british-history.ac.uk|access-date=28 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301074619/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/herts/vol2/pp483-488|archive-date=1 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The 14th abbot, he was appointed by his uncle, the new [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], [[Lanfranc]].

Building work started in the year of Abbot Paul's arrival. The design and construction were overseen by the Norman Robert the Mason. The plan has very limited Anglo-Saxon elements and is clearly influenced by the French work at [[Cluny Abbey|Cluny]], [[Bernay Abbey|Bernay]] and [[Caen]], and shares a similar floor plan to [[Abbey of Saint-Étienne, Caen|Saint-Étienne]] in Caen and Lanfranc's [[Canterbury Cathedral|Canterbury]]—although the poorer quality building material was a new challenge for Robert and he clearly borrowed some Roman techniques, which were learned while gathering material in the ruins of Verulamium.

To make maximum use of the hilltop the Abbey was oriented to the south-east. The [[cruciform]] abbey was the largest built in England at that time, it had a [[chancel]] of four bays, a [[transept]] containing seven [[apse]]s, and a [[nave]] of ten bays—fifteen bays long overall. Robert gave particular attention to solid [[foundation (architecture)|foundation]]s, running a continuous wall of layered bricks, flints and mortar below and pushing the foundations down to twelve feet to hit bedrock. Below the [[crossing tower]] special large stones were used.

The tower was a particular triumph—it is the only 11th-century great crossing tower still standing in England. Robert began with special thick supporting walls and four massive brick piers. The four-level tower tapers at each stage with clasping buttresses on the three lower levels and circular buttresses on the fourth stage. The entire structure masses 5,000 tons and is 144 feet high. The tower was probably topped with a Norman pyramidal roof; the current roof is flat. The original ringing chamber had five bells—two paid for by the Abbot, two by a wealthy townsman, and one donated by the rector of [[Hoddesdon]]. None of these bells has survived.

There was a widespread belief that the Abbey had two additional, smaller towers at the west end. No remains have been found.

The monastic abbey was completed in 1089 but not consecrated until [[Massacre of the Innocents#Feast day|Holy Innocents' Day]] (28 December), 1115, by the [[Archbishop of Rouen]]. King [[Henry I of England|Henry I]] attended as did many bishops and nobles.

A [[nunnery]] ([[Sopwell Priory]]) was founded nearby in 1140.

Internally the Abbey church was bare of sculpture, almost stark. The plaster walls were coloured and patterned in parts, with extensive tapestries adding colour. Sculptural decoration was added, mainly ornaments, as it became more fashionable in the 12th century—especially after the Gothic style arrived in England around 1170.

In the current structure the original Norman arches survive principally under the central tower and on the north side of the nave. The arches in the rest of the building are [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]], following medieval rebuilding and extensions, and [[Victorian era]] restoration.

The Abbey was extended in the 1190s by Abbot [[John de Cella]] (also known as [[John of Wallingford (d. 1214)|John of Wallingford]]) (1195–1214); as the number of monks grew from fifty to over a hundred, the Abbey church was extended westwards with three bays added to the nave. The severe Norman west front was also rebuilt by Hugh de Goldclif—although how is uncertain; it was very costly but its 'rapid' weathering and later alterations have erased all but fragments. A more prominent shrine and altar to Saint Amphibalus were also added.<ref name=tma /> The work was very slow under de Cella and was not completed until the time of Abbot William de Trumpington (1214–1235). The low Norman tower roof was demolished and a new, much higher, broached spire was raised, sheathed in lead.

The [[St. Albans Psalter|St Albans Psalter]] ({{Circa|1130}}–1145) is the best known of a number of important [[Romanesque art|Romanesque]] [[illuminated manuscript]]s produced in the Abbey [[scriptorium]]. Later, [[Matthew Paris]], a monk at St Albans from 1217 until his death in 1259, was important both as a [[chronicle]]r and an artist. Eighteen of his manuscripts survive and are a rich source of contemporary information for historians.

[[Pope Adrian IV|Nicholas Breakspear]] was born near St Albans, reportedly at [[Abbots Langley]], and applied to be admitted to the Abbey as a novice, but he was turned down. He eventually managed to be accepted into an abbey in France. In 1154 he was elected Pope Adrian IV, the only English [[Pope]] there has ever been.<ref>{{cite web |title=Famous people in Three Rivers - a Ragamuffin from Bedmond |url=https://trmt.org.uk/blog/a-ragamuffin-from-bedmond |website=Three Rivers Museum Trust |access-date=1 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sheldon |first1=Liberty |title=England's first and only Pope and his life in Abbots Langley |url=https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/news/hertfordshire-news/englands-first-only-pope-adrian-7004350 |access-date=1 September 2022 |work=HertsLive |date=30 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref> The head of the Abbey was confirmed as the premier abbot in England also in 1154.

<gallery>
File:Psalm 21 Initial D.jpg|Psalm 22:1-8 in the St. Albans Psalter. The first words of the Psalm in the Latin Vulgate are "Deus, Deus meus," abbreviated here as DS DS MS.
File:Psalm 136 Initial S.jpg|Psalm 137 Initial S
File:Vaterunser Initial P.jpg|Initial at the start of the "[[Lord's Prayer|Our Father]]"
File:Kindermord von Bethlehem.jpg|[[Massacre of the Innocents]]
File:Gastmahl des Simon.jpg|Christ in the house of Simon the Pharisee, with [[Mary Magdalene]] washing his feet, Luke 7:36–50
File:Albani-Psalter Getsemane.jpg|Jesus's [[Agony in the Garden]]
File:Maria Magdalena berichtet den Jüngern.jpg|Mary Magdalene announces the Risen Christ
</gallery>

The Abbey had a number of daughter houses, ranging from [[Tynemouth Castle and Priory|Tynemouth Priory]]<ref name="northtyneside1">{{cite web |url=http://www.northtyneside.gov.uk/browse-display.shtml?p_ID=532487&p_subjectCategory=1432 |title=Priors, Kings and Soldiers - North Tyneside Council |publisher=Northtyneside.gov.uk |date=1999-07-01 |access-date=2017-01-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106040544/http://www.northtyneside.gov.uk/browse-display.shtml?p_ID=532487&p_subjectCategory=1432 |archive-date=6 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> in the north to [[Binham Priory]] near the Norfolk coast.<ref>Mee, Arthur Mee. ''Norfolk'', Hodder and Stoughton,1972, p. 32, {{ISBN|0-340-15061-0}}</ref>