Speyer - Cathedral

Speyer gained importance, when the Salian dynasty entered the political stage with Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II. He commissioned the construction of of this church, known as the "Imperial Cathedral of Speyer". lt was planned to be the largest cathedral worldwide. A display of the Emperor´s power, that was - before the "Investiture Controversy" - secular and ecclesiastical.

The cathedral was completed 1106, the year Conrad´s grandson Emperor Henry IV died. The cathedral is the burial site for the Salian emperors, so we will meet Conrad II, his son, grandson and some of their Staufer and Habsburg collegues again.

There has always been a long competition between Speyer and Cluny about the "largest church of Christendom". As Cluny is a ruin since 200 years, the "Imperial Cathedral of Speyer" is the largest romanesque church - undisputed worldwide. Seeing this, you should have the Cluny in mind, as both churches had about the same size.

Looking through the central nave from west to east. 33 meters high, 14 meters wide - and from the point of view to the end of the elevated choir are more than 120 meters. When the cathedral was constructed, the builders were able to vault the smaller aisles, but the 14 meters wide nave got a wooden ceiling. When Emperor Henry IV took over in 1090, he had the eastern sections demolished - and had them replaced by an enlarged structure. The nave then was elevated and the wooden ceiling replaced with a groin vault of square bays. Each vault here extends over two bays of the elevation.

In December 1146 Bernard of Clairvaux preached the second crusade exactly here. Conrad III was very reluctant, but in the end, he joined Louis VII in the expedition with an armee of about 20.000 men. They were defeated by the Seljuks. Conrad III escaped, but most soldiers were killed or captured.

As the history of the cathedral is really complex, I add the Wikipedia-links here:

english:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyer_Cathedral
french:
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cath%C3%A9drale_Notre-Dame-de-l%27A...
german:
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyerer_Dom

"Europaeische Stiftung Kaiserdom zu Speyer" has a very good website, but only in German:
www.dom-speyer.de/index.html