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Cathedral Design - Ad Triangulum

In 1399 a Frenchman, Master Jean Mignot, was placed

in charge of Milan Cathedral. He made some serious
criticisms of the work done by the Lombard architects
up to then. There are extant notes on the argument that
resulted.

In the heat of passion it was asserted that the science of

geometry should not have a place in these matters, since
science is one thing and art another. Master Jean replied
that art without science is nothing.

The Lombard Masters replied: if he [Mignot] invokes, as it

were, the rules of geometry, Aristotle says that the move-
ment of man in space which we call locomotion is
either straight or circular or a mixture of the two. Likewise
the same [writer] says elsewhere that every body is
perfected in three [ways], and the movement of this very
church rises ad triangulum as has been determined by other
engineers. ... All [the measurements] are in a straight line,
or an arch, therefore it is concluded that what has been
done, has been done according to geometry and to
practice... (Alain Erlande-Brandenburg Cathedrals and
Castles: Buiding in the Middle Ages, 1993, pp156-9)

There is an accompanying illustration of Milan Cathedral

analyzed according to the ad triangulum proportional
system. Its taken from Cesare Cesariano's 1521 Italian
commentary on Vetruvius' Ten Books on Architecture.
(Mike Bispham says that this illustration is in Robert
Lawlor's Sacred Geometry and in Jean Gimpel's
The Cathedral Builders -- note 5 to Platonic Atomism
in Midieval Design) Basically it shows how a descending
series of nested equilateral triangles fit over the front view
of the cathedral, determining heights and placements for
towers and flying buttresses.

(Won't someone PLEASE translate Cesariano! All I ever

see are references to the 1521 manuscript.)

Bear all of this in mind while we turn to Chartres Cathedral

to reconsider the place of music in the elevations of
the Cathedral.

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The following relates to Charpentier's book, The

Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral (chapter on the Musical
Mystery).

Charpentier tells us that there are four horizontals lines

on the side walls of the Cathedral at different heights,
formed by rows of cornices. (See illustration on page
8 of the photos) The top row forms the base for the
arches of the ceiling vault. The next row down is the base for
the stained glass windows. Below that is the base for
the gallery, and below that is the top of the pillars.

5pt star/vault
x x -- base of ceiling vault
x x x
x x x -- base of windows
x x x
x 2 x x -- base of gallery
x x x
x x x -- top of pillars
x x x
x x x
x x x x x x x x x x
1

The geometry of the elevations of the cathedral

will be altogether musical, he says.

If you take the width of the floor as a unit of 1,

then the hypotenuse of the right triangle formed by
connecting the base of the opposite wall with the
base of the vault will be 2. 1 to 2 is the interval of the
octave. (Further the right triangle that is formed is
one half of an equilateral triangle, implying
'ad triangulum'.)

The right triangle formed by connecting the base of

the opposite wall with the base of the gallery has the
proportion 1 to 1.5, or in other words 2 to 3, equal
to the musical fifth.

The right triangle formed by connecting the base of the

opposite wall with the top of the pillars has the
proportion 1 to 1.2, or in other words 5 to 6, the
musical third.

Here Charpentier runs into a problem, because the

right triangle that is formed by connecting the base
of the opposite wall with the base of the windows

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has the proportion of 1 to 1.75 or in other words

4 to 7, which does not correspond to a musical
interval.

1.75 is, however, very close to 1.732, which is the

square root of 3. When we look at the heights as
square roots we get the following:

width of floor = 1
height to base of vault = square root of 3
height to base of windows = square root of 2
height to base of gallery = square root of 5/2
height to tops of pillars = square root of 11/5

Following the Pythagorean theorem for 1 to 2 rt. triangle:

square on the hypotenuse = 4
minus 1, square on the base,
equals 3 , the square on the other side.
Length of the other side is the square root of 3.

Following the Pythagorean theorem for 1 to sqrt 3 rt. triangle:

square on the hypotenuse = 3
minus 1, square on the base,
equals 2 , the square on the other side.
Length of the other side is the square root of 2.

When 1.75 is used for the square root of 3 instead of 1.732,

the figure that results is 1.4361 instead of the true square root
of 2 which is 1.4142, a difference of about one and a half
percent.

Following the Pythagorean theorem for 2 to 3 rt. triangle:

square on the hypotenuse = 9
minus 4, square on the base,
equals 5 , the square on the other side.
Length of the other side is the square root of 5.
Since the base is really 1 not 2, divide by 2.
Length of the other side is square root of 5
divided by 2.

The square root of 5 divided by 2 is familiar, since

it makes up part of the golden section number, phi,
equal to sqrt 5/2 + 1/2.

Sqrt 5/2 = 1.118 plus .5 = 1.618 = phi

Barry Carrol on the Sacred Landscape list has pointed out that
the square root of 2 and of 3 are important elements
in cathedral design.

Here I would like to say that I believe there was

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a general knowledge of right triangles, probably

associated with musical ratios, geometrical
construction methods, the 1/2 of an equilateral
triangle significant to Platonic Atomism, and the
'ad triangulum' proportional system.

Consider the following:

base 1, hypotenuse sqrt 3, side sqrt 2

base 1, hypotenuse 2, side sqrt 3
base 2, hypotenuse 3, side sqrt 5
base 3, hypotenuse 4, side sqrt 7
base 4, hypotenuse 5, side sqrt 9
(the sacred 3-4-5 triangle)
base 5, hypotenuse 6, side sqrt 11
base 6, hypotenuse 7, side sqrt 13

Note that base plus hypotenuse equals

the sqrt of the side. 6+7=13, 5+6=11 etc.

Given a Druid's cord of 12 knots and 13 sections

and a T-square right angle measure,
it would not be hard to construct these
triangles on the ground. It would then be
possible to mark out squares on the ground with
prime number areas. These squares
could be multiplied by whole-numbers to give
large areas with prime numbers as the basic
factor.

Although some of the elevation in Chartres

Cathedral is represented by musical triangles,
the whole scheme seems more oriented to
displaying proportions based on prime number
square roots.

Dan Washburn, April 1998

I've had a speculative notion about the smallest

rightt triangle in the elevation scheme at Chartres, the
one that runs from the base of the opposite wall
to the top of the columns.

base = 1, hypotenuse = 1.2, height = sqrt 11/5

Proportionally, this is equivalent to

base = 5, hypotenuse = 6, height = sqrt 11

As you recall the next larger rt triangle was

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base 1, hypotenuse 1.5, height = sqrt 5/2.

Phi, the golden section number is sqrt 5/2

plus 1/2. Hence this right triangle is a
reference to Phi.

Is there any relation between the Phi

reference triangle and the 6 to 5
proportioned triangle?

6/5 times Phi squared = approximately Pi

= 3.1416407865

Hence my conclusion is that the architects

of Chartres were aware of this formula and
chose the smallest triangle as part of a
proportional scheme that demonstrated this
knowledge.

OF asks:

> I've never heard of a Druid's cord before.

> Could you possibly provide some more information (specifically
> the total length if that is defined). Thank you in advance

All I know is what I have read in Einar Palsson's book,

The Sacred Triangle of Pagan Iceland. He quotes Nigel
Pennick writing in his book Sacred Geometry

"The laying out of areas required a foolproof method for

the production of the right angle. This was achieved by
marking off the rope with thirteen equal divisions. Four
units then formed one side of the the triangle, three
another, and five the hypotenuse opposite the right
angle. This simple method has persisted to this day,
and was used when tomb and temple building began.
It was the origin of the historic "cording of the temple",
and from this technique it was a relatively simple task
to lay out rectangles and other more complex
geometric figures."

Palsson writes, "The Druid's Cord of which Nigel Pennick

speaks had 13 sections with 12 knots, to produce the 3:4:5
triangle and the 5:4:4 triangle, which was reckoned as
the seventh part of a circle. This is interesting to compare
with the Icelandic counterpart as I had hypothesized that
triangle 3:4:5 of Rangarhverfi had an extended hypotenuse
from 5 to 6. In other words: the cord with thirteen sections
may have been used for just that purpose - to extend the
hypotenuse from 5 to 6; i.e. all thirteen sections being

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used not just for triangle 5:4:4 but also for triangle 3:4:5
(which otherwise only needs 12)."

Why an extension from 5 to 6? Perhaps because Pi is

equal to 6/5 times Phi squared?

Too bad all of this is so speculative.

I'm afraid I don't know anything about why it is called

a "Druid's Cord" or what the actual lengths were.

Dan Washburn

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