Byzantine Influence and Private Patronage in a Newly Discovered Medieval Church in Amalfi: S. Michele Arcangelo in Pogerola

Abstract

The church of S. Michele Arcangelo in Pogerola (Amalfi), which I discovered several years ago, is here published for the first time. S. Michele is the only extant cross-in-square church in Amalfi or, for that matter, on the Campanian mainland. The cross-in-square was the most widespread Middle Byzantine church plan, and S. Michele is here analyzed in relation to several varieties of the type. S. Michele is unusual in that a number of medieval documents (or their transcriptions) survive that provide information about it: the precise date of its construction (1179-1181), the identity of its donor, and its character as a private church. These facts serve to elucidate S. Michele's origins and provide the basis for a hypothesis that private patronage encouraged the dispersion of the cross-in-square plan in the Byzantine sphere of influence.