Cologne cathedral in the Merovingian period and beyond

This dissertation questions how the cathedral in Cologne, Germany, was renovated in response to the tumultuous climate in that city between the sixth and ninth centuries, and how the Merovingian architecture of the church was transformed by new functions and meanings specific to the emerging Carolingian world. This study investigates three specific changes, key to understanding the church at this time: the installation of an ambo, a liturgical feature more common in the East; the replacement of the ambo with a schola cantorum, a nave chancel intended to foster reforms in chant; and the construction of a massive semicircular atrium at the west end of the church complex.;What can be known of the renovations in Cologne's cathedral is established first, using both literary sources and the results of archaeological excavation. The study investigates the liturgical and architectural context of the ambo as it appeared in the west. This research also addresses the emergence of the schola cantorum or nave chancel in Rome, and surveys what is known of contemporary schola cantorums in Gaul. Finally this study explores the architectural context for the semicircular form of the church complex's western atrium in ecclesiastical and secular settings, first in the Late Antique period and then in the Carolingian construction.;The findings reveal that the emergence of Cologne's first cathedral at the beginning of the city's sixth-century renaissance of Christianity, together with Merovingian and perhaps local interest in Romano-Byzantine culture, may account for the modest scope of the church and its ambo. This dissertation also contends that, with the consolidation of power under the Carolingians, Cologne's growing desire for political connections with the new dynasty influenced the bishops' desire to construct a schola cantorum, and perhaps also the semicircular atrium.