Walter Horn
Encyclopedia
Walter W. Horn was a medievalist scholar
noted for his work on the timber
vernacular
architecture of the Middle Ages
. He was born in Germany
, but fled Nazism
and spent most of his academic career
at the University of California, Berkeley
, where he became the university system's first art historian and co-founded the History of Art department. A naturalized citizen of the United States
, Horn served in the U.S. Army during World War II
and then in the special intelligence unit
that tracked down art works plundered by the Nazis
. His most celebrated exploit was the recovery of the crown jewels
of the Holy Roman Empire
, also known as Charlemagne
's Imperial Regalia
. As a scholar, Horn is most noted for his work on the medieval architectural drawing
known as the Plan of Saint Gall
.
. His mother was Matilde Peters; she married Karl Horn, a Lutheran minister. Walter attended a Gymnasium
in nearby Heidelberg
and went on to study art history
at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Berlin. He earned his doctorate
in 1934 at the University of Hamburg
, studying under Erwin Panofsky
. His dissertation, Die Fassade von Saint-Gilles, on the façade
of Saint-Gilles, Gard
, was published in 1937.
and began his long association with the University of California, Berkeley, as a lecturer
. A year later, he was given a permanent position as the first art historian in the University of California system. During this time, he married Ann Binkley Rand.
Horn became a naturalized citizen in 1943. That same year, he volunteered for military duty in the U.S. Army. By 1945, he was a lieutenant
in the Third Army under General George S. Patton
. Horn's skills as a native speaker of German
were put to use in interrogating
prisoners of war. After the war, he continued as a special investigator in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program
, using his expertise as an art historian to track down art that had been stolen or concealed by the Nazis
. Horn served until 1946, attaining the rank of captain.
In 1946, Horn succeeded in recovering the Imperial Regalia
of Charlemagne
, the crown
, sceptre
, and jewels of the Holy Roman Empire
. These had been kept hidden by Germans who hoped to return to power even after their defeat by the Allies
.
The incident has been elaborated, sometimes with inaccuracies, by writers who take particular interest in the Holy Lance
, the spear supposed to have pierced the side of Jesus
during his crucifixion
. This artifact is sometimes called the Spear of Destiny and identified with the Vienna Lance, one of the components of the regalia. In speculative works of non-fiction
that endow the lance with occult powers or mystical significance in Nazism, Horn appears in narratives about its retrieval from the possession of Adolf Hitler
. Usually identified as "Lt. Walter William Horn," he is said to have retrieved the lance at the behest of Patton on the very day of Hitler's death, that is, 30 April 1945. Newspaper and academic sources, which omit any specific mention of the lance, date the recovery of the regalia as a whole to 1946.
. In 1949, Horn and his family became embroiled in the controversy at his university over a loyalty oath
requirement. During the era of the Cold War
, the Red Scare
, and McCarthyism
, the Board of Regents
at the University of California began to require that all university employees sign an oath affirming their loyalty to the state constitution
and denying their membership or belief in organizations advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government. The requirement met with resistance, and in the summer of 1950 thirty-one professors
who refused to sign were fired, despite their stature as "internationally distinguished scholars." Horn's fellow medievalist
Ernst Kantorowicz
resigned rather than sign the oath, stating his reasons in two letters to the university president that were only published in English decades after the episode. Kantorowicz also presented a letter from Horn, who had signed the oath under protest. In the letter dated 23 August 1950, Horn, then acting chairman of the art department, pointed to his former military service and to his voluntary reactivation that same month as a reservist
in the Armed Services
.
Kantorowicz noted that Horn's letter "illustrates the grave conflict of conscience and savage economic coercion to which, after fifteen months of pressure and struggle, he had finally to yield."
Horn's early position as research associate in Florence gave him firsthand knowledge of the city's medieval church architecture
and produced two important studies, Das Florentiner Baptisterium (1938), an analysis of the fabric and ornamentation of the Florence Baptistry that established new criteria for its dating, and Romanesque
Churches in Florence: A Study of Their Chronology
and Stylistic Development (1943), which included an examination of the masonry
construction of San Miniato al Monte. Throughout his career, he continued to explore the conceptual connections between classical
and northern architecture. His specialty was three-aisled timber structures in medieval churches, market halls
and manor halls
. He was known for arriving at a precise dating of medieval buildings through studying their technologies
and observing the physical evidence, drawing on scientific disciplines; he dated timber structures with reference to radiocarbon analysis
and dendrochronological tables
.
In 1958, Horn published what is considered his most important article, “On the Origins of the Medieval Bay System” in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
. He argued that bay
-divided medieval churches
derived from Germanic
timber buildings and represented a continuous tradition of vernacular architecture
in transalpine Europe. Horn was the first to assemble the known timber examples, which dated from as early as 1200 BC and extended into the medieval period. Because traces of early wooden structures were often scanty or oblique, Horn used scientific methods to uncover their architectural principles, and demonstrated that these were developed and applied to stone cathedral
s in the Romanesque and Gothic
periods.
The 1958 article was significant also in that it marked Horn's first collaboration with Ernest Born
, the San Franciscan architect and draftsman with whom he was to author a series of books and articles over the next twenty years. Their first book was The Barns of the Abbey of Beaulieu
at Its Granges of Great Coxwell and Beaulieu St. Leonard (1965), a study of the only two Cistercian tithe barn
s, dating from the 13th century, that survive in England. But their major project was the three-volume work The Plan of St. Gall: A Study of the Architecture and Economy of, and Life in a Paradigmatic Carolingian
Monastery, which has been called "one of the greatest monograph
s on medieval architecture that has ever appeared."
The plan of Saint Gall
had engaged Horn's imagination and curiosity since he was introduced to it by his mentor Erwin Panofsky
. In 1957, Horn had participated in an international congress
on the plan, and his interest in its guest and service buildings led to his survey of medieval structures in France and England. In 1965, Horn and Born contributed to the creation of a scale model
of the 40 buildings rendered on the plan. The model was displayed at the international exhibit Karl der Grosse
held at Aachen
. Their two decades of collaboration culminated in a work of 1,056 pages with an estimated 1,200 illustrations.
The Plan of St. Gall was praised by French historian Emmanuel LeRoy Ladurie for its "prodigious scholarship," and for its wide-ranging elucidation of Carolingian
daily life. The first volume offers a reconstruction of the church and the living quarters for a community of monks
numbering about a hundred. The second volume covered the guest and service buildings and the horticultural
spaces for growing vegetables, medicinal herbs, and fruit and nut trees. The third volume contains supplemental material such as Horn's 88-page catalogue of the plan's explanatory tituli, or captions, and Charles W. Jones
' English translation of the Consuetudines Corbienses
by Adalhard. Through meticulous reimagining of the activities that the architecture was meant to facilitate, Horn presents a rich picture of Carolingian life and thought.
The most controversial aspect of the work was Horn's major thesis: that the plan was a copy of a lost master plan
dating to 816 or 817 that would have been part of documents pertaining to the official monastic reform movement under Louis the Pious
at Aachen. The dominant strand of criticism to the contrary holds that the plan was intended to represent an ideal and was never meant to be carried out at a particular site. Horn's last article on the plan, "The Medieval Monastery as a Setting for the Production of Manuscripts," was a response to this criticism.
The Plan of St. Gall earned twelve major awards for its scholarship, bookmaking
, and typography
, including a prize from France's Académie d'architecture
and a 1982 medal from the American Institute of Architects
.
status after 36 years at the University of California. His last publication, The Forgotten Hermitage
of Skellig Michael
(1990), co-authored with Jenny White Marshall and Grellan D. Rourke, resulted from fieldwork begun in 1978 on Ireland's Atlantic offshore islands. His interest in the Celtic roundhouse
had been indicated earlier in "On the Origins of the Medieval Cloister" (1973).
to establish History of Art as a separate department at the University of California in 1971. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
(elected 1970) and of the Medieval Academy of America
(1980). Horn was an active supporter of arts institutions outside academia, serving as trustee
of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
and chairman of the museum's acquisitions committee. He was on the board of the College Art Association
1950–54 and 1964–68 and on the board of the Society of Architectural Historians
1964–68.
on Tuesday, 26 December 1995, at Point Richmond, California. He was 87. He was survived by his wife, Alberta; his son, Michael; two daughters, Rebecca and Robin; and a grandson, Matthew. His obituary
in the New York Times labeled him "historian of medieval cloister
s and barn
s." Horn was remembered by colleagues as one of the university's "best-loved and most influential teachers and … most effective leaders." He was eulogized for "his oratorical skills and uncanny ability to bring the medieval building or pile of ruins
vividly to life. His eloquence and grace matched his endless curiosity about prehistoric and medieval buildings in northern Europe and how people utilized them."
Medieval studies
-Development:The term 'medieval studies' began to be adopted by academics in the opening decades of the twentieth century, initially in the titles of books like G. G. Coulton's Ten Medieval Studies , to emphasize a greater interdisciplinary approach to a historical subject...
noted for his work on the timber
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
vernacular
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
architecture of the Middle Ages
Medieval architecture
Medieval architecture is a term used to represent various forms of architecture common in Medieval Europe.-Characteristics:-Religious architecture:...
. He was born in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, but fled Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and spent most of his academic career
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, where he became the university system's first art historian and co-founded the History of Art department. A naturalized citizen of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Horn served in the U.S. Army during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and then in the special intelligence unit
Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program
The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program under the Civil Affairs and Military Government Sections of the Allied armies was established in 1943 to assist in the protection and restitution of cultural property in war areas during and following World War II...
that tracked down art works plundered by the Nazis
Nazi plunder
Nazi plunder refers to art theft and other items stolen as a result of the organized looting of European countries during the time of the Third Reich by agents acting on behalf of the ruling Nazi Party of Germany. Plundering occurred from 1933 until the end of World War II, particularly by military...
. His most celebrated exploit was the recovery of the crown jewels
Crown jewels
Crown jewels are jewels or artifacts of the reigning royal family of their respective country. They belong to monarchs and are passed to the next sovereign to symbolize the right to rule. They may include crowns, sceptres, orbs, swords, rings, and other objects...
of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
, also known as Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
's Imperial Regalia
Imperial Regalia
The Imperial Regalia, insignia, or crown jewels are the regalia of the Emperors and Kings of the Holy Roman Empire. The most important parts are the Imperial Crown, the Holy Lance and the Imperial Sword...
. As a scholar, Horn is most noted for his work on the medieval architectural drawing
Architectural drawing
An architectural drawing or architect's drawing is a technical drawing of a building that falls within the definition of architecture...
known as the Plan of Saint Gall
Plan of Saint Gall
The Plan of Saint Gall is a famous medieval architectural drawing of a monastic compound dating from the early 9th century. It is preserved in the Stiftsbibliothek Sankt Gallen, Ms 1092....
.
Early life
Horn was born in the town of Waldangelloch in rural Baden-WürttembergBaden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
. His mother was Matilde Peters; she married Karl Horn, a Lutheran minister. Walter attended a Gymnasium
Education in Germany
The responsibility for the German education system lies primarily with the states while the federal government plays only a minor role. Optional Kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years of age, after which school attendance is compulsory, in most cases for...
in nearby Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
and went on to study art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Berlin. He earned his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in 1934 at the University of Hamburg
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...
, studying under Erwin Panofsky
Erwin Panofsky
Erwin Panofsky was a German art historian, whose academic career was pursued mostly in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime. Panofsky's work remains highly influential in the modern academic study of iconography...
. His dissertation, Die Fassade von Saint-Gilles, on the façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
of Saint-Gilles, Gard
Saint-Gilles, Gard
Saint-Gilles or Saint-Gilles-du-Gard is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.It is the second most populous commune in the Nîmes metropolitan area.-Geography:...
, was published in 1937.
World War II era
Horn fled Germany in opposition to the Nazi regime. He continued his studies from 1934 to 1937 as a research associate at the German Institute for the History of Art in Florence, Italy. In 1938, Horn moved to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and began his long association with the University of California, Berkeley, as a lecturer
Lecturer
Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...
. A year later, he was given a permanent position as the first art historian in the University of California system. During this time, he married Ann Binkley Rand.
Horn became a naturalized citizen in 1943. That same year, he volunteered for military duty in the U.S. Army. By 1945, he was a lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the Third Army under General George S. Patton
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...
. Horn's skills as a native speaker of German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
were put to use in interrogating
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
prisoners of war. After the war, he continued as a special investigator in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program
Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program
The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program under the Civil Affairs and Military Government Sections of the Allied armies was established in 1943 to assist in the protection and restitution of cultural property in war areas during and following World War II...
, using his expertise as an art historian to track down art that had been stolen or concealed by the Nazis
Nazi plunder
Nazi plunder refers to art theft and other items stolen as a result of the organized looting of European countries during the time of the Third Reich by agents acting on behalf of the ruling Nazi Party of Germany. Plundering occurred from 1933 until the end of World War II, particularly by military...
. Horn served until 1946, attaining the rank of captain.
In 1946, Horn succeeded in recovering the Imperial Regalia
Imperial Regalia
The Imperial Regalia, insignia, or crown jewels are the regalia of the Emperors and Kings of the Holy Roman Empire. The most important parts are the Imperial Crown, the Holy Lance and the Imperial Sword...
of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, the crown
Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire
The Imperial Crown , is the hoop crown of the King of the Romans, the rulers of the German Kingdom, since the High Middle Ages. Most of the kings were crowned with it. It was made probably somewhere in Western Germany, either under Otto I , by Conrad II or Conrad III during the late 10th and early...
, sceptre
Sceptre
A sceptre is a symbolic ornamental rod or wand borne in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia.-Antiquity:...
, and jewels of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
. These had been kept hidden by Germans who hoped to return to power even after their defeat by the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
.
The incident has been elaborated, sometimes with inaccuracies, by writers who take particular interest in the Holy Lance
Holy Lance
The Holy Lance is the name given to the lance that pierced Jesus' side as he hung on the cross in John's account of the Crucifixion.-Biblical references:The lance is mentioned only in the Gospel of John and not in any of the...
, the spear supposed to have pierced the side of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
during his crucifixion
Crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion of Jesus and his ensuing death is an event that occurred during the 1st century AD. Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God as well as the Messiah, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally executed on a cross...
. This artifact is sometimes called the Spear of Destiny and identified with the Vienna Lance, one of the components of the regalia. In speculative works of non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
that endow the lance with occult powers or mystical significance in Nazism, Horn appears in narratives about its retrieval from the possession of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. Usually identified as "Lt. Walter William Horn," he is said to have retrieved the lance at the behest of Patton on the very day of Hitler's death, that is, 30 April 1945. Newspaper and academic sources, which omit any specific mention of the lance, date the recovery of the regalia as a whole to 1946.
The McCarthy era
Returning from the war, Horn married Alberta West Parker, a physicianPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. In 1949, Horn and his family became embroiled in the controversy at his university over a loyalty oath
Loyalty oath
A loyalty oath is an oath of loyalty to an organization, institution, or state of which an individual is a member.In this context, a loyalty oath is distinct from pledge or oath of allegiance...
requirement. During the era of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the Red Scare
Red Scare
Durrell Blackwell Durrell Blackwell The term Red Scare denotes two distinct periods of strong Anti-Communism in the United States: the First Red Scare, from 1919 to 1920, and the Second Red Scare, from 1947 to 1957. The First Red Scare was about worker revolution and...
, and McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
, the Board of Regents
Board of Regents
In the United States, a board often governs public institutions of higher education, which include both state universities and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual colleges and universities, or both. In general they operate as...
at the University of California began to require that all university employees sign an oath affirming their loyalty to the state constitution
California Constitution
The document that establishes and describes the duties, powers, structure and function of the government of the U.S. state of California. The original constitution, adopted in November 1849 in advance of California attaining U.S. statehood in 1850, was superseded by the current constitution, which...
and denying their membership or belief in organizations advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government. The requirement met with resistance, and in the summer of 1950 thirty-one professors
Professors in the United States
In the U.S., "Professors" commonly occupy any of several positions in academia, typically the ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Full Professor....
who refused to sign were fired, despite their stature as "internationally distinguished scholars." Horn's fellow medievalist
Medieval studies
-Development:The term 'medieval studies' began to be adopted by academics in the opening decades of the twentieth century, initially in the titles of books like G. G. Coulton's Ten Medieval Studies , to emphasize a greater interdisciplinary approach to a historical subject...
Ernst Kantorowicz
Ernst Kantorowicz
Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz was a German-Jewish historian of medieval political and intellectual history, known for his 1927 book Kaiser Friedrich der Zweite on Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, and in particular The King's Two Bodies .Kantorowicz was born in Posen to a wealthy, assimilated...
resigned rather than sign the oath, stating his reasons in two letters to the university president that were only published in English decades after the episode. Kantorowicz also presented a letter from Horn, who had signed the oath under protest. In the letter dated 23 August 1950, Horn, then acting chairman of the art department, pointed to his former military service and to his voluntary reactivation that same month as a reservist
Reservist
A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person is usually a former active-duty member of the armed...
in the Armed Services
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
.
Kantorowicz noted that Horn's letter "illustrates the grave conflict of conscience and savage economic coercion to which, after fifteen months of pressure and struggle, he had finally to yield."
Academic career and scholarship
Cathedral architecture of Western Europe
The architecture of cathedrals, basilicas and abbey churches is the architecture of those church buildings which are usually of large size, including most cathedrals, and follow one of several branching traditions of form, function and style that stem initially from Early Christian traditions of...
and produced two important studies, Das Florentiner Baptisterium (1938), an analysis of the fabric and ornamentation of the Florence Baptistry that established new criteria for its dating, and Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
Churches in Florence: A Study of Their Chronology
Chronology
Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
and Stylistic Development (1943), which included an examination of the masonry
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
construction of San Miniato al Monte. Throughout his career, he continued to explore the conceptual connections between classical
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
and northern architecture. His specialty was three-aisled timber structures in medieval churches, market halls
Market house
A market house or country market is a type of building traditionally used as a marketplace at street level and for public functions on the upper floor....
and manor halls
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
. He was known for arriving at a precise dating of medieval buildings through studying their technologies
Architectural engineering
Architectural engineering, also known as building engineering, is the application of engineering principles and technology to building design and construction...
and observing the physical evidence, drawing on scientific disciplines; he dated timber structures with reference to radiocarbon analysis
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
and dendrochronological tables
Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...
.
In 1958, Horn published what is considered his most important article, “On the Origins of the Medieval Bay System” in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
Society of Architectural Historians
The Society of Architectural Historians is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide....
. He argued that bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
-divided medieval churches
Cathedral architecture of Western Europe
The architecture of cathedrals, basilicas and abbey churches is the architecture of those church buildings which are usually of large size, including most cathedrals, and follow one of several branching traditions of form, function and style that stem initially from Early Christian traditions of...
derived from Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
timber buildings and represented a continuous tradition of vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
in transalpine Europe. Horn was the first to assemble the known timber examples, which dated from as early as 1200 BC and extended into the medieval period. Because traces of early wooden structures were often scanty or oblique, Horn used scientific methods to uncover their architectural principles, and demonstrated that these were developed and applied to stone cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
s in the Romanesque and 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....
periods.
The 1958 article was significant also in that it marked Horn's first collaboration with Ernest Born
Ernest Born
Ernest Born was an architect and artist who lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area.Born studied architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating from the school of Architecture in 1922 and earning a masters degree in 1923.Born designed signage for the Bay Area Rapid...
, the San Franciscan architect and draftsman with whom he was to author a series of books and articles over the next twenty years. Their first book was The Barns of the Abbey of Beaulieu
Beaulieu Abbey
Beaulieu Abbey, , was a Cistercian abbey located in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1203-1204 by King John and peopled by 30 monks sent from the abbey of Cîteaux in France, the mother house of the Cistercian order...
at Its Granges of Great Coxwell and Beaulieu St. Leonard (1965), a study of the only two Cistercian tithe barn
Tithe barn
A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing the tithes - a tenth of the farm's produce which had to be given to the church....
s, dating from the 13th century, that survive in England. But their major project was the three-volume work The Plan of St. Gall: A Study of the Architecture and Economy of, and Life in a Paradigmatic Carolingian
Carolingian Renaissance
In the history of ideas the Carolingian Renaissance stands out as a period of intellectual and cultural revival in Europe occurring from the late eighth century, in the generation of Alcuin, to the 9th century, and the generation of Heiric of Auxerre, with the peak of the activities coordinated...
Monastery, which has been called "one of the greatest monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
s on medieval architecture that has ever appeared."
Plan of St. Gall
Plan of Saint Gall
The Plan of Saint Gall is a famous medieval architectural drawing of a monastic compound dating from the early 9th century. It is preserved in the Stiftsbibliothek Sankt Gallen, Ms 1092....
had engaged Horn's imagination and curiosity since he was introduced to it by his mentor Erwin Panofsky
Erwin Panofsky
Erwin Panofsky was a German art historian, whose academic career was pursued mostly in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime. Panofsky's work remains highly influential in the modern academic study of iconography...
. In 1957, Horn had participated in an international congress
Academic conference
An academic conference or symposium is a conference for researchers to present and discuss their work. Together with academic or scientific journals, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers.-Overview:Conferences are usually composed of various...
on the plan, and his interest in its guest and service buildings led to his survey of medieval structures in France and England. In 1965, Horn and Born contributed to the creation of a scale model
Scale model
A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...
of the 40 buildings rendered on the plan. The model was displayed at the international exhibit Karl der Grosse
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
held at Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
. Their two decades of collaboration culminated in a work of 1,056 pages with an estimated 1,200 illustrations.
The Plan of St. Gall was praised by French historian Emmanuel LeRoy Ladurie for its "prodigious scholarship," and for its wide-ranging elucidation of Carolingian
Carolingian Renaissance
In the history of ideas the Carolingian Renaissance stands out as a period of intellectual and cultural revival in Europe occurring from the late eighth century, in the generation of Alcuin, to the 9th century, and the generation of Heiric of Auxerre, with the peak of the activities coordinated...
daily life. The first volume offers a reconstruction of the church and the living quarters for a community of monks
Christian monasticism
Christian monasticism is a practice which began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon scriptural examples and ideals, including those in the Old Testament, but not mandated as an institution in the scriptures. It has come to be regulated by religious rules Christian...
numbering about a hundred. The second volume covered the guest and service buildings and the horticultural
Medieval gardening
Medieval gardening, or gardening during the medieval period, had a primary purpose of providing food for households. For the purposes of this article, the European medieval era will be considered to span from 400 to 1400 CE, though appropriate references may be made to earlier and later times. ...
spaces for growing vegetables, medicinal herbs, and fruit and nut trees. The third volume contains supplemental material such as Horn's 88-page catalogue of the plan's explanatory tituli, or captions, and Charles W. Jones
Charles W. Jones (medievalist)
Charles W. Jones was a medievalist scholar who served on the faculties of Cornell University and the University of California, Berkeley. He is noted for his work on Bede, the development of the ecclesiastical calendar, medieval hagiography, and Carolingian aesthetics...
' English translation of the Consuetudines Corbienses
Corbie Abbey
Corbie Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery in Corbie, Picardy, France, dedicated to Saint Peter.-Foundation:It was founded in about 659/661 under Merovingian royal patronage by Balthild, widow of Clovis II, and her son Clotaire III...
by Adalhard. Through meticulous reimagining of the activities that the architecture was meant to facilitate, Horn presents a rich picture of Carolingian life and thought.
The most controversial aspect of the work was Horn's major thesis: that the plan was a copy of a lost master plan
Blueprint
A blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term "blueprint" has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan....
dating to 816 or 817 that would have been part of documents pertaining to the official monastic reform movement under Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
at Aachen. The dominant strand of criticism to the contrary holds that the plan was intended to represent an ideal and was never meant to be carried out at a particular site. Horn's last article on the plan, "The Medieval Monastery as a Setting for the Production of Manuscripts," was a response to this criticism.
The Plan of St. Gall earned twelve major awards for its scholarship, bookmaking
Bookbinding
Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block.-Origins of the book:...
, and typography
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
, including a prize from France's Académie d'architecture
Académie d'architecture
The Académie royale d'architecture was a French learned society founded on December 30, 1671 by Louis XIV, king of France under the impulsion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert...
and a 1982 medal from the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
.
Later work
In 1974, Horn retired to emeritusEmeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
status after 36 years at the University of California. His last publication, The Forgotten Hermitage
Hermitage (religious retreat)
Although today's meaning is usually a place where a hermit lives in seclusion from the world, hermitage was more commonly used to mean a settlement where a person or a group of people lived religiously, in seclusion.-Western Christian Tradition:...
of Skellig Michael
Skellig Michael
Skellig Michael , also known as Great Skellig, is a steep rocky island in the Atlantic Ocean about 9 miles from the coast of County Kerry, Ireland. It is the larger of the two Skellig Islands...
(1990), co-authored with Jenny White Marshall and Grellan D. Rourke, resulted from fieldwork begun in 1978 on Ireland's Atlantic offshore islands. His interest in the Celtic roundhouse
Roundhouse (dwelling)
The roundhouse is a type of house with a circular plan, originally built in western Europe before the Roman occupation using walls made either of stone or of wooden posts joined by wattle-and-daub panels and a conical thatched roof. Roundhouses ranged in size from less than 5m in diameter to over 15m...
had been indicated earlier in "On the Origins of the Medieval Cloister" (1973).
Honors and administrative achievements
Horn worked with classical archaeologist Darrell A. AmyxDarrell A. Amyx
Darrell Arlynn Amyx was an American classical archaeologist. His principal field of study was the archaic pottery of Corinth...
to establish History of Art as a separate department at the University of California in 1971. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(elected 1970) and of the Medieval Academy of America
Medieval Academy of America
The Medieval Academy of America is the largest organization in the United States promoting excellence in the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts...
(1980). Horn was an active supporter of arts institutions outside academia, serving as trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...
of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, comprising the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco and one of the largest art museums in California.-External...
and chairman of the museum's acquisitions committee. He was on the board of the College Art Association
College Art Association
The College Art Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for practitioners and scholars of art, art history, and art criticism...
1950–54 and 1964–68 and on the board of the Society of Architectural Historians
Society of Architectural Historians
The Society of Architectural Historians is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide....
1964–68.
Death
Horn died at home of pneumoniaPneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
on Tuesday, 26 December 1995, at Point Richmond, California. He was 87. He was survived by his wife, Alberta; his son, Michael; two daughters, Rebecca and Robin; and a grandson, Matthew. His obituary
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
in the New York Times labeled him "historian of medieval cloister
Cloister
A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
s and barn
Barn
A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house livestock or to store farming vehicles and equipment...
s." Horn was remembered by colleagues as one of the university's "best-loved and most influential teachers and … most effective leaders." He was eulogized for "his oratorical skills and uncanny ability to bring the medieval building or pile of ruins
Ruins
Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction...
vividly to life. His eloquence and grace matched his endless curiosity about prehistoric and medieval buildings in northern Europe and how people utilized them."
Selected bibliography
Standard biographical and publishing data on Horn not otherwise cited comes from two or more of the following sources.- W. Eugene Kleinbauer, James Marrow and Ruth Mellinkoff. "Memoirs of Fellows and Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of AmericaMedieval Academy of AmericaThe Medieval Academy of America is the largest organization in the United States promoting excellence in the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts...
: Walter W. Horn," Speculum 71 (1996) 800-802. - University of California (System) Academic Senate, "1996, University of California: In Memoriam," "Walter Horn, History of Art: Berkeley"
- Dictionary of Art Historians: A Biographical Dictionary of Historic Scholars, Museum Professionals and Academic Historians of Art, "Horn, Walter W(illiam)."
- William Grimes, "Walter Horn, 87, a Historian Of Medieval Cloisters and Barns," New York Times 29 December 1995, obituary
- "Walter Horn," San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, 30 December 1995, obituary - "Walter Horn; Specialist in Medieval Architecture," Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, 31 December 1995, obituary