Robert De Coucy or Courcy, born Reims

Reims

Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....

 (or Coucy

Coucy

Coucy is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:* Coucy-la-Ville, in the Aisne département, very close to* Coucy-le-Château-Auffrique, in the Aisne département, location of:** Château de Coucy...

, according to some authorities; died Reims in 1311) was a medieval French master-builder and son of a master-builder of the same name.

In 1263 he was appointed successor to Hugues Libergier as director of the work of building the church of Saint-Nicaise in Reims, and between this date and 1279 he constructed the choir chapels, and part of the transept

Transept

For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...

; the church was afterwards destroyed during the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. Some illustrations of this building, begun in 1229 and considered one of the best Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 churches of the period in France, have been preserved; a nearly contemporary chronicle of the Abbey of Saint-Nicaise says that, "Hugo Libergiers pronaon ecclesiæ perfecit. Robert de Coucy caput ecclesiæ construxit".

After the death of his father, Robert de Coucy had also chief charge of the work on the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims, which was rebuilt after its destruction by fire in 1211. The new cathedral was begun in 1211, and the choir, constructed by Robert de Coucy the elder, was completed in 1241; The cathedral was built on a simple plan of a vast choir, no transepts, and a rather narrow nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

. Viollet-le-Duc says:

"This building has all the strength of the cathedral of Chartres without its heaviness; in short it combines the essential requirements of artistic beauty, power and grace; it is, besides, built of fine materials cunningly put together, and there is found in all its parts a painstaking care and a skill very rare at a period when men built with great rapidity and often with inadequate resources".

In a labyrinth, or representation of a maze, which formerly existed in the pavement of the nave of the cathedral were effigies of the architects of the edifice from its foundation up to 1382; among these effigies, according to tradition, were those of the two Robert de Coucys, father and son. In the cloister of the Abbey of Saint-Denis at Reims, Andre Félibien

André Félibien

André Félibien , sieur des Avaux et de Javercy, was a French chronicler of the arts and official court historian to Louis XIV of France.-Biography:...

noted the gravestone of Robert de Coucy, "Maistre de Notre-Daine et de Saint-Nicaise, qui trépassa en l'an 1311".

Sources

Cites:

• • MARLOT, Histoire de La ville de Reims (Lille, 1666; Reims, 1842–45), I, 636;