The doorways are placed at the side, rarely in the west front or transept ends (Nos. 77 and 79 N). D. Roofs. In the Rhine district vaulting was introduced, a central semicircular barrel vault was supported by half-circle vaults over the aisles, a system which led by degrees to complete Gothic vaulting. Timber roofs were also employed for large spans. Tower roofs, and spires of curious form, are a great feature of the style. A gable on each tower face, with high pitched intersecting roofs, is common, and is developed by carrying up the planes of the roof to form a pyramid, which leads on to further spire growth (No. 79 G). E. Columns. The nave arcades are generally constructed of square piers, with half columns attached. The alternation of piers and columns is a favourite German feature. The capitals, though rude in execution, are well designed, being superior to the later Gothic examples (No. 79). F. Mouldings are not a strong feature of the style (see under Walls), caps and bases take a distinctive form, leading from Roman through Romanesque and Gothic. G. Ornament.-Internally the flat plain surfaces were decorated in fresco. The traditions and examples of the early Christian and Byzantine mosaic decorations, were carried on in colour. In the north the enforced use of brick was unfavourable to rich decoration; there is thus an absence of sculptured foliage. Coloured bricks were used. 5. REFERENCE BOOKS. Boisserée (S.).—" Denkmale der Baukunst am Nieder-Rhein." Folio. Munich, 1844. Moller (G.).—" Denkmaeler der Deutschen Baukunst." Folio. Leipzig, 1852. 13TH CENTURY 80. SERUSALEM GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 1 1. INFLUENCES. i. Geographical. Refer to each country. The nations of Western Europe had come into existence. Germany was the centre of the Western Empire and the Kingdoms of France, Italy and Spain were also becoming strong united states. Russia, Sweden and Norway had little to do with Western Europe. England had become thoroughly united under the Norman Kings, while Scotland and Ireland were under her influence. ii. Geological.-Refer to each country. iii. Climate:-Refer to each country. Generally, it has been pointed out that the Northern sun, as in Northern Europe, is more suitable for Gothic than Classic Architecture. It is a sun Before treating of the development of the style peculiar to each country, an outline sketch in general is given. wheeling somewhat low on an average round the sky, and shadows are best caught by outstanding buttresses and the flying lateral members of a Gothic façade, than by the level lines of the heavy classic horizontal cornices, which are more effective, under the Grecian or Italian sun, which in those countries stays higher in the firmament. The high pitched Gothic roof of mediæval Europe is suggestive of snow and bad weather. iv. Religion.-Refer to general introduction to Romanesque Architecture (page 145). For remarks on the Monastic orders see page 145. The immense power of the Popes, which was probably at its height in the thirteenth century, was evidenced in the way they made and unmade Emperors and Kings and gave away their dominions. The clergy also took a prominent part in temporal affairs, in consequence of their learning, and by so doing attracted wealth and power to their orders. In Germany, many of the Abbots and Bishops were princes of the Empire, and the three Archbishops of Cologne, Trèves, and Mayence were the Electors of the Emperor. The worship of relics, of local saints (as S. Hugh at Lincoln, S. Thomas at Canterbury, S.Swithun at Winchester), the periodical pilgrimages, the adoration of the Virgin Mary and other changes of ritual, have all had their influence on the monuments. Mariolatry is responsible for the addition of lady chapels either laterally, as at Ely (No. 89 B), or at the eastern extremity, as Salisbury (No. 120 F). The demand for chapels dedicated to particular saints, for an ambulatory to be used for processional purposes and the foundation of chantry chapels, where masses for the dead could be repeated, have also affected the general plan of many buildings. v. Social and Political. Refer to each country. The growth of the towns is an important point as bringing about increase of riches and the development into important cities, which vied with each other in the erection of magnificent buildings. In Italy, the whole country became divided into different portions belonging to the bigger towns and in after times into principalities. In Germany, towns joined together for mutual defence, amongst the most famous being those forming the Hanseatic league. vi. Historical. Refer to each country. 2. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER. The character of Gothic Architecture (see Nos. 81 and 114), generally in England and on the Continent, requires some introduction. As the principles of Gothic Architecture are similar throughout Europe, we preface our inquiry into the character it possesses with the following remarks. The fully-developed Gothic art of the thirteenth century was the style which had been slowly developing itself throughout Europe as a necessary sequence of the Romanesque style. No. 81 explains the principles of Gothic construction, and must be referred to while reading this section. In the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries the Gothic masons were exhausting the possibilities of stone in small pieces as a building material. They heaped it up in towers that rose on open archways through the lofty roofs of the surrounding naves, and tapered away in shell-like spires embroidered in all the fretwork of Gothic tracery. They hung it aloft in ponderous vaults treated by art to seem the gossamer web of nature, scarce capable of bearing the stalactite pendants in which the latent fancy of the latest age found its expression. Eventually pushing their practice to the furthest boundaries, they cut the granular stone to the thinness of fibrous wood or iron, and revelled in tricks of construction and marvels of workmanship that astonish our inexpertness. In the thirteenth century the Gothic spirit, taking account of mechanical forces, employed materials at hand according to their nature; it sought for those laws of elasticity and equilibrium which were to be substituted for those of inert stability, the only laws known to the Greeks and Romans. It studied how to economize material, because it was forced to elevate human labour from being the mere carrier of material, to the highest form of technical art and skill. In the Romanesque period, the walling generally consisted of a rubble core between two faces of stonework, but at the beginning of the thirteenth century, edifices higher and of larger extent being built, a new method was gradually evolved. For, in seeking to diminish the thickness of the interior supports and of the walls, it was necessary for the architects on the one hand to find a mode of construction more homogeneous and more capable of resistance, and on the other to avoid the expense of labour which the carrying of material of large size involved. Large facing stones were therefore more and more discarded, and stones with thick mortar joints, and small enough to be carried on a man's back, were gradually introduced, and were employed throughout the thickness of the wall; this method is a middle course between the Roman construction in large facing stones, and that of rough stones included between brick and stone walls. In a word, the architecture was readily subjected to the means at command, for the architecture of the thirteenth century was adapted to a structure of small stones rather than to one of jointed blocks, and was a compromise between Roman concrete walling and the use of jointed stones without mortar. The military TING OUT OF GROIN NAVE WALL AND SPRINGING FROM MASSIVE BUTTRESSES AL & WALL RIBS FROM |