From approximately 1270 to 1343, the Angevin kings of Naples ordered the construction and repair of dozens of fortresses, churches, and new towns within their newly acquired lands. Pierre d'Angicourt, a Frenchman from Picardy, was connected to approximately a dozen of these projects. Listed in Angevin diplomas beginning in 1278 as the “headmaster and supervisor of the court's works,” Pierre is identified often in Angevin studies as an architect, either in the modern meaning, as a theory-based designer, or in the occasional medievalist use, as a master mason. In Pierre d'Angicourt and Angevin Construction, Alexander Harper reexamines the Angevin chancellery diplomas that mention Pierre and the buildings connected to him and argues that in fact he was an administrator charged with the bureaucratization of construction within the kingdom. This conclusion has wide implications for our understanding of Angevin architecture, especially in regard to architectural agency, building types, and reception...
University of California Press