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Speaker: Jennifer Alexander

Melbourne’s parish church stands out as a fine Romanesque church, built in the 12th century and covered in sculpture. It was intended to be a royal church and presents a statement of power by a king eager to be regarded as a player on the international stage. Its later history was quieter, and it is one of the few churches of the period that comes down to us largely unaltered, and so we can see, by close study of the building, how King Henry I’s master mason demonstrated the king’s power in his design of the building.

Jennifer Alexander FSA is Professor of Art History at the University of Warwick