I.14.1
INCONSISTENCIES BETWEEN THE
DRAWING AND THE
EXPLANATORY TITLES
In 1848 Robert Willis first expressed the view that the Plan
of St. Gall was not drawn to scale and should be considered
merely as a diagrammatic scheme.[314]
Since then the question
of its measurements and construction method has become
the subject of a perplexing controversy. Although in the
course of this dispute practically every leading architectural
historian of the Middle Ages has had his say, no unanimity
has yet been reached in this matter.[315]
The controversy was caused by the fact that the dimensions
given in the explanatory titles of the Church (the only
place on the Plan where dimensions are listed) could not be
brought into agreement with the manner in which the
building is drawn. The titles that contain these dimensions
are written by the main scribe,[316]
four in the small and finely
articulated minuscule in which most of the other legends of
this scribe are written, and one in a widely spaced capitalis
rustica. They are (fig. 55):
1. In the longitudinal axis of the Church, written in capitalis rustica, in groups of two and three letters, so as to extend
the entire length of the Church:
AB ORI EN TE IN OC CI DEN Tē LON GĪT̄. PED̄ .CC.
traditionally transcribed as:
AB ORIENTE IN OCCIDENTE[M] LONGIT[UDO] PED[UM] CC.
and accordingly translated:
FROM EAST TO WEST THE LENGTH [IS] 200 FEET.
2. In the nave, written crosswise, midway between the altar of the Holy Cross and the ambo:
Latitudo interioris tēp̄li pedū xl
The width of the nave of the church [is] 40 feet.
3. In the aisles, in line with the preceding title:
| Latitudo utriusque porticus |
pedum xx |
| The width of each aisle |
[is] 20 feet |
4. Between the interstices of the columns of the nave arcades the distich:
| Bis senos metire pedes interque columnas |
[southern row] |
| Ordine quas isto constituisse decet |
[northern row] |
Measure twice six feet between the columns
To have them arranged in this way is suitable.
5. In the interstices of the piers of the western Paradise the hexameter:
Has interque pedes denos moderare columnas
Between these columns measure ten feet.
Many other students of the Plan have observed that a
conflict exists between the figures defining the width of the
Church and those which are given for its length. If a scale
is constructed on the basis of the 40-foot width of the nave
and applied to the length of the Church, the over-all
dimensions of the latter would come not to 200 feet (as is
stipulated in No. 1), but to 300 feet; and if the same 40-foot
scale were applied to the interstices of the two great
columnar orders, the axial distance from the column to
column would not amount to 12 feet (as stipulated in No.
4), but to 20 feet, since the drawing shows this span as
being exactly one-half the width of the nave. How is this
conflict to be resolved?
