Cathedral at Durham

In major centers, of which Durham is typical, the early Norman Motte ( seen on the left) was improved by permanent stone building, but the most striking, and architecturally important feature of the conquest was the complete replacement of the Saxon church by Norman-dominated bishops. Within sixty years, all of the Saxon cathedrals had been replaced by great Norman structures financed by the forfeited lands of the Saxons, and occupied by ecclesiastics influenced by the great reform movement center at Cluny in Burgundy. Cluniac reform laid emphasis on making church ceremony longer and far more splendid then was customary, and it demanded greater size, richness, and elaboration in vestment, music, ornaments and architecture.