A building site of the early Sixteenth Century Normandy: the castle of Gaillon. Organization, Workers, Materials and Technologies

The fortunate survival of numerous detailed accounts in which several different bookkeepers assured the precise registration of all incoming and outgoing moneys from Gaillon (1495-1510), make it possible to explore in detail the organization of one very large French building site in this period. These documents enable a detailed study of rhythm of the site’s processes, including the provisioning of materials, the modalities of salary payment, and the hierarchy of different masons, workers and artists. The precise registration of expenses permits an understanding of the various phases of the construction process and an estimate of the incidence of particular materials and techniques on the general budget. Some particular references permit an analysis of the wood scaffoldings and the machinery used to reach the highest levels of the castle or to move some special object as the marble bas-relief of Saint George and the dragon in the high chapel. Last, but certainly not least, these documents help to broaden our lexicon of particular language and terminology used at such building sites of the period.