A history of an attempt at classification. The work of Edmund Sharpe and the periodization of English medieval architecture through the lens of terminology theory

This thesis aims at demonstrating the existence of terminology as common practice even before its official codification as a discipline. Specifically, this work is centred on the discovery of a terminological activity in the history of architecture and in the periodization of English ecclesiastical architecture of the Middle Ages. There, the aim is to evidence how the reflections of architecture historians on classification and naming of periods and building specimens prefigure future theories of terminology. Focusing on the architecture historian Edmund Sharpe (1809 – 1877), his attempt at classification of English medieval architecture in 1851 is described, according to the visual features of its windows. Beyond Sharpe’s work, the debate is reconstructed on the update of the official periodization. Indeed, this thesis intends to describe Sharpe and his colleagues as terminologists ante litteram and to highlight the contribution of classification and naming to the progress of knowledge. Chapter 1 introduces the historical context of the events, as well as the main principles of terminology, while in Chapter 2 the establishment of the official classification of English architecture in 1817 is reported. In Chapter 3, the historians note windows, which cannot be described through the official nomenclature. Consequently, Chapter 4 presents Sharpe’s innovative method for a classification of medieval buildings, based on the analysis of their windows. In Chapter 5, Sharpe’s periodization is examined in his volume, The Seven Periods of English Architecture. The discussion culminates, in Chapter 6, in a debate in the journal The Builder. There, the experts discuss Sharpe’s periodization, questioning both terms and classification criteria. Chapter 7 comments on the events. The destiny of Sharpe’s periodization is outlined, towards the acknowledgement that a continuous terminological update is necessary in every discipline, to keep up with the evolution of knowledge.