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diff --git a/old/54701-0.txt b/old/54701-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 97367b6..0000000 --- a/old/54701-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7623 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Gothic Architecture, by Édouard Corroyer - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Gothic Architecture - -Author: Édouard Corroyer - -Editor: Walter Armstrong - -Release Date: May 10, 2017 [EBook #54701] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE *** - - - - -Produced by deaurider, Karin Spence and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - [Illustration: CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL - FROM A DRAWING BY A. BRUNET-DEBAINES] - - - - - GOTHIC - ARCHITECTURE - - - BY - - ÉDOUARD CORROYER - - ARCHITECT TO THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND INSPECTOR - OF DIOCESAN EDIFICES - - EDITED BY - - WALTER ARMSTRONG - - DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF IRELAND - - - _With Two Hundred and Thirty-Six Illustrations_ - - - NEW YORK - MACMILLAN AND CO. - - 1893 - - - - - EDITOR'S PREFACE - - -The following pages, which have been translated under my supervision -by Miss Florence Simmonds, give such an account of the birth and -evolution of Gothic Architecture as may be considered sufficient for -a handbook. Mons. Corroyer writes, indeed, from a thoroughly French -standpoint. He is apt to believe that everything admirable in Gothic -architecture had a Gallic origin. Vexed questions of priority, such as -that attaching to the choir of Lincoln, he dismisses with a phrase, -while the larger question of French influence generally in these -islands of ours, he solves by the simple process of referring every -creation which takes his fancy either to a French master or a French -example, here coming, be it said, into occasional collision with his -own stock authority, the late Mons. Viollet-le-duc. The Chauvinistic -tone thus given to his pages may be regretted, but, when all is -said, it does not greatly affect their value as a picture of Gothic -development. Mons. Corroyer confines himself in the main to broad -principles. He travels along the line of evolution, pointing out how -material conditions and discoveries, and their consequent social -changes, brought about one development after another in the forms -and methods of the architect. In a treatise so conceived, the fact -that the field of observation is practically restricted to France, -the few excursions beyond her frontier being made rather with a view -to displaying the extent of her influence than with any desire for -catholicity of grasp, is of no great moment. The English reader for -whom this translation is intended, will get as clear a notion of how -Gothic, as he knows it, came into being, as he would from a more -universal survey, while he has the advantage of some echo, at least, -of the vivacity, which inspires a Frenchman when his theme is "one of -the Glories of France." - - W. A. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - INTRODUCTION 1 - - - PART I - - RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE - - CHAP. - - 1. THE INFLUENCE OF THE CUPOLA UPON SO-CALLED GOTHIC - ARCHITECTURE 11 - - 2. THE ORIGIN OF THE INTERSECTING ARCH 16 - - 3. THE FIRST VAULTS ON INTERSECTING ARCHES 24 - - 4. BUILDINGS VAULTED ON INTERSECTING ARCHES 32 - - 5. THE ORIGIN OF THE FLYING BUTTRESS 41 - - 6. CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS OF THE TWELFTH AND FOURTEENTH - CENTURIES 51 - - 7. CATHEDRALS OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY 67 - - 8. CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE FOURTEENTH - CENTURY 85 - - 9. CHURCHES OF THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES IN - FRANCE AND IN THE EAST 105 - - 10. TOWERS AND BELFRIES--CHOIRS--CHAPELS 128 - - 11. SCULPTURE 153 - - 12. PAINTING 179 - - - PART II - - MONASTIC ARCHITECTURE - - CHAP. PAGE - - 1. ORIGIN 205 - - 2. ABBEYS OF CLUNY, CITEAUX, AND CLAIRVAUX 215 - - 3. ABBEYS AND _CHARTREUSES_ OR CARTHUSIAN MONASTERIES 227 - - 4. FORTIFIED ABBEYS 247 - - - PART III - - MILITARY ARCHITECTURE - - 1. RAMPARTS OF TOWNS 269 - - 2. CASTLES AND KEEPS 291 - - 3. GATES AND BRIDGES 309 - - - PART IV - - CIVIL ARCHITECTURE - - 1. BARNS, HOSPITALS, HOUSES, AND "HÔTELS" OR TOWNHOUSES OF - THE NOBILITY 333 - - 2. TOWN-HALLS, BELFRIES, AND PALACES 360 - - - - - ILLUSTRATIONS - - - Canterbury Cathedral. By A. Brunet-Debaines _Frontispiece_ - - FIG. PAGE - - 1. Plan of a cupola of the Abbey Church of St. Front at - Périgueux 17 - - 2. Pendentive of a cupola of the Abbey Church of St. Front - at Périgueux 18 - - 3. Diagonal section of a pendentive 19 - - 4. Plan of a cupola of Angoulême or Fontevrault 20 - - 5. Section of a bay of the cupolas of Angoulême 20 - - 6. Section of a bay in the Church of St. Avit-Sénieur 21 - - 7. Plan of vault on intersecting arches 21 - - 8. Section of an intersecting arch 22 - - 9. Plan of a bay in the nave of St. Maurice at Angers 24 - - 10. Transverse section of the nave of St. Maurice at Angers 25 - - 11. Plan of a bay of the nave. Ste. Trinité, Laval 26 - - 12. Section of two bays of the nave. Ste. Trinité, Laval 27 - - 13, 14. Comparative sections of Churches of Angoulême and - Angers 28 - - 15. View in perspective of nave vault. St. Maurice at Angers 29 - - 16. Plan of a summer of the nave vault. Ste. Trinité, Laval 30 - - 17. Plan of one of the nave piers. Ste. Trinité, Laval 30 - - 18. Plan of the nave, St. Maurice, Angers 33 - - 19. Plan of La Ste. Trinité, Angers 34 - - 20. Section of a bay. Ste. Trinité, Angers 35 - - 21. Transverse section of a bay. Ste. Trinité, Angers 37 - - 22. Section of a single-aisled Church vaulted on intersecting - arches with buttresses 38 - - 23. Section of a three-aisled Church vaulted on intersecting - arches with flying buttresses 39 - - 24. Durham Cathedral. Transverse sections 43 - - 25. Abbey Church at Noyon. Plan 44 - - 26. Transverse section of Noyon Church 45 - - 27. Church of Tournai, Belgium. Exterior view of north transept - towards the Scheldt 46 - - 28. Monastery Church at Moissac. Vault of the hall known as - the _Salle des Capitaines_ above the porch 47 - - 29. Church of Tournai, Belgium. Interior of north transept 47 - - 30. Soissons Cathedral, south transept. Section of flying - buttress 48 - - 31. Perspective view of south transept, Soissons Cathedral 49 - - 32. Cathedral of Laon. Plan 52 - - 33. Cathedral of Laon. Interior of the nave 54 - - 34. Cathedral of Laon. Main façade 55 - - 35. Cathedral of Laon. The east end 57 - - 36. Cathedral of Laon. Section of the nave 58 - - 37. Notre Dame de Paris. Plan 59 - - 38. Notre Dame de Paris. Section of the nave 60 - - 39. Notre Dame de Paris. Flying buttresses and south tower 61 - - 40. Sens Cathedral. Plan of a bay 62 - - 41. Sens Cathedral. Section of a bay of the nave 63 - - 42. Sens Cathedral. Interior 64 - - 43. Bourges Cathedral. Section of the nave 65 - - 44. Rheims Cathedral. Plan 68 - - 45. Rheims Cathedral. Section of the nave 70 - - 46. Rheims Cathedral. Flying buttresses of the choir 71 - - 47. Amiens Cathedral. Plan 72 - - 48. Amiens Cathedral. Section through the nave 73 - - 49. Beauvais Cathedral. Apse 75 - - 50. Beauvais Cathedral. North front 76 - - 51. Beauvais Cathedral. Transverse section 77 - - 52. Chartres Cathedral. Rose window of north transept 78 - - 53. Mans Cathedral. Plan 80 - - 54. Mans Cathedral. Flying buttresses of the apse 81 - - 55. Mans Cathedral. Section of the choir 82 - - 56. Coutances Cathedral. North tower 83 - - 57. Rodez Cathedral. West front 86 - - 58. Bordeaux Cathedral. Choir and north front 87 - - 59. Lichfield Cathedral. West front 88 - - 60. Lincoln Cathedral. Plan 91 - - 61. Lincoln Cathedral. West front 92 - - 62. Lincoln Cathedral. Transept 94 - - 63. Lincoln Cathedral. Apse and chapter-house 95 - - 64. Brussels Cathedral (Ste. Gudule). West front 97 - - 65. Cologne Cathedral. South front 99 - - 66. Burgos Cathedral. West front 101 - - 67. Cathedral or Duomo of Siena. West front 102 - - 68. Church of St. Francis at Assisi. Apse and cloisters 103 - - 69. Church of St. Ouen at Rouen. Central tower and apse, - south front 106 - - 70. Albi Cathedral. Plan 108 - - 71. Albi Cathedral. Section of the nave 111 - - 72. Albi Cathedral. Apse 113 - - 73. Albi Cathedral. Donjon tower and south front 114 - - 74. Church of Esnandes. A fortified church 116 - - 75. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Flying buttresses of the choir 118 - - 76. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Plan of the choir 119 - - 77. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Details of the apse 120 - - 78. Alençon Cathedral. West front 122 - - 79. Façade of the Cathedral of St. Sophia. Island of Cyprus 123 - - 80. Cathedral of St. Nicholas. Island of Cyprus 124 - - 81. Cathedral of St. Nicholas. Island of Cyprus 126 - - 82. Church of St. Sophia. Island of Cyprus. Ruins 127 - - 83. Steeple, Vendôme 129 - - 84. Giotto's Tower at Florence 130 - - 85. Bayeux Cathedral. Towers of the west front 132 - - 86. Senlis Cathedral. South tower of west front 133 - - 87. Salisbury Cathedral. Steeple 135 - - 88. Church of Langrune (Calvados). Steeple 136 - - 89. Church of the Jacobins at Toulouse. Tower 138 - - 90. Church of St. Pierre at Caen. Tower 140 - - 91. Church of St. Michel at Bordeaux. Tower 141 - - 92. Cathedral of Freiburg-im-Breisgau 142 - - 93. Antwerp Cathedral 143 - - 94. Rheims Cathedral. Statues of west front 154 - - 95. Rheims Cathedral. Statues of west front 155 - - 96. Rheims Cathedral. Statues of west front 156 - - 97. Rheims Cathedral. Principal door. Statue and ornament 157 - - 98. Rheims Cathedral. Principal door. Statue and ornament 158 - - 99. Notre Dame de Paris. Principal door. Running leaf pattern 159 - - 100. Notre Dame de Paris. Principal door. Running leaf pattern 160 - - 101. Chartres Cathedral. Statues of north porch 161 - - 102. Chartres Cathedral. Statues of south porch 162 - - 103. Amiens Cathedral. Central porch of west front 163 - - 104. Amiens Cathedral. Statues in the south porch 164 - - 105. Amiens Cathedral. Choir stalls. Carved ornament 165 - - 106. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Ornament of cloisters 166 - - 107. Wooden Statuette (thirteenth century). _Ateliers_ of La - Chaise Dieu, Auvergne 167 - - 108, 108_a_. Two ivory statuettes. School of Paris 168, 169 - - 109. Wooden Statuette (fourteenth century). School of Paris 170 - - 110, 110_a_. Two ivory diptychs (fourteenth century). School - of the Ile-de-France 171 - - 111, 111_a_. Ivory diptych and plaque (fourteenth century). - School of the Ile-de-France 172, 173 - - 112. Head in silver gilt repoussé. _Ateliers_ of the - Goldsmith's Guild of Paris 174 - - 113. Group carved in wood (fifteenth century). School of - Antwerp 175 - - 114. Wooden statuette, painted and gilded (fifteenth century) 176 - - 115. Wooden statuette, painted and gilded (sixteenth century) 177 - - 116. Paintings in Cahors Cathedral. Horizontal projection of - the cupola 180 - - 117. Paintings in Cahors Cathedral. One of the prophets in the - cupola 182 - - 118. Paintings in Cahors Cathedral. Fragment of central frieze - of cupola 184 - - 119, 120. Painted windows of the early twelfth century. From - St. Rémi, Rheims 187 - - 121. Painted window of the twelfth century. Church of - Bonlieu, Creuse 188 - - 122. Painted window of the thirteenth century. Chartres - Cathedral 189 - - 123. Painted window of the thirteenth century. Chartres - Cathedral 190 - - 124. Painted window of the thirteenth century. Church of St. - Germer, Troyes 191 - - 125. Painted windows of the fourteenth century. Church of St. - Urbain, Troyes 193 - - 126. Painted glass of the fourteenth century. Cathedral of - Châlons-sur-Marne 194 - - 127. Painted window of the fifteenth century. Évreux Cathedral 195 - - 128. Enamel of the eleventh century. Plaque cover of a MS. 196 - - 129. Enamel of the thirteenth century. Plaque cover of an - Evangelium 198 - - 130. Enamel of the twelfth century. Reliquary shrine of St. - Thomas à Becket 199 - - 131. Enamel of the sixteenth century. Our Lady of Sorrows 200 - - 132. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Cloister (thirteenth century) 206 - - 133. Abbey of Cluny. Gateway 216 - - 134. Abbey of Cluny. Plan 219 - - 135. Abbey of Cluny. Door of the Abbey Church 221 - - 136. Abbey of St. Étienne at Caen. Façade 228 - - 137. St. Alban's Abbey (England) 230 - - 138. Abbey of Montmajour. Cloisters 231 - - 139. Abbey of Elne. Cloisters 232 - - 140. Abbey of Fontfroide. Cloisters 233 - - 141. Abbey of Maulbronn (Wurtemberg). Plan 235 - - 142. Abbey of Fontevrault. Kitchen 236 - - 143. Cathedral of Puy-en-Velay. Cloisters 237 - - 144. Abbey of La Chaise Dieu (Auvergne). Cloisters 239 - - 145. _Chartreuse_ of Villefranche de Rouergue. Plan 242 - - 146. _Chartreuse_ of Villefranche de Rouergue. Bird's-eye view 243 - - 147. _Grande Chartreuse._ The Great Cloister 244 - - 148. _Grande Chartreuse._ General View 245 - - 149. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. General View 248 - - 150. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Plan at the level of the - entrance 249 - - 151. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Plan at the level of the - lower church 250 - - 152. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Plan at the level of the - upper church 252 - - 153. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Section from north to south 253 - - 154. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Section from west to east 254 - - 155. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Crypt known as the _Galerie - de l'Aquilon_ 256 - - 156. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. North front 257 - - 157. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. The almonry 258 - - 158. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. A tympanum of the cloisters 259 - - 159. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. The cellar 260 - - 160. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Refectory 262 - - 161. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Hall of the knights 263 - - 162. St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall 264 - - 163. Abbey of Mont St. Michel. Gate-house 270 - - 164. City of Carcassonne. South-east ramparts 273 - - 165. City of Carcassonne. North-west ramparts 274 - - 166. Fortress of Kalaat-el-Hosn. Section 277 - - 166_a_. Fortress of Kalaat-el-Hosn. General view 278 - - 167. City of Carcassonne. Plan of the thirteenth century 279 - - 168. City of Carcassonne. Ramparts, south-west angle 280 - - 169. Ramparts of Aigues-Mortes, north and south 281 - - 170. Ramparts of Avignon. Curtain and towers 282 - - 170_a_. Machicolations 283 - - 171. Ramparts of St. Malo 284 - - 172. Mont St. Michel. South front 287 - - 173. Mont St. Michel. As restored on paper 288 - - 174. Castle of Angers 292 - - 175. Carcassonne. Citadel 293 - - 176. Loches Castle. Keep 294 - - 177. Falaise Castle. Keep 297 - - 178. Lavardin Castle. Keep 298 - - 179. Keep of Aigues-Mortes 299 - - 180. Provins Castle. Keep 300 - - 181. Castle, Chinon 302 - - 182. Castle, Clisson. Keep 303 - - 183. Castle. Villeneuve-les-Avignon 304 - - 184. Castle of Tarascon 305 - - 185. Vitré Castle 307 - - 186. City of Carcassonne. Castle gate 310 - - 187. City of Carcassonne. Gate of the Lists 312 - - 188. City of Carcassonne. Gate known as the _Porte Narbonaise_ 313 - - 189. Ramparts of Aigues-Mortes. Drawbridge 314 - - 190. Ramparts of Dinan. Gate known as the _Porte de Jerzual_ 315 - - 191. Vitré Castle. Gate-house 317 - - 192. Ramparts of Guérande. Gate known as the _Porte St. - Michel_ 318 - - 193. Ramparts of Mont St. Michel. Gateway known as the - _Porte du Roi_ 320 - - 194. Entrance to the Port of La Rochelle 322 - - 195. Bridge at Avignon 323 - - 196. Bridge of Montauban 325 - - 197. Bridge of Cahor 326 - - 198. Bridge of Orthez 327 - - 199. Fortified bridge. Mont St. Michel 328 - - 200. Town-hall at St. Antonin (Tarn et Garonne) 334 - - 201. Barn at Perrières (Calvados) 335 - - 201_a_. Barn at Perrières (Calvados). Section 336 - - 201_b_. Barn at Perrières (Calvados). Plan 336 - - 202. Tithe-barn at Provins 337 - - 203. Granary of the Abbey of Vauclair 338 - - 204. Hospital of St. John, Angers 339 - - 205. Abbey of Ourscamps (Oise) 340 - - 206. Lazar-house at Tortoir (Aisne) 341 - - 207. Hospital at Tonnerre. Section 343 - - 208, 208_a_. Houses at Cluny 347, 348 - - 209, 210. Houses at Vitteaux and at St. Antonin 349 - - 211, 212. Houses at Provins and at Laon 350, 351 - - 213. House at Cordes. Albigeois 352 - - 214. House at Mont St. Michel 354 - - 215, 216. Wooden houses at Rouen and at Andelys 355, 356 - - 217. Hôtel Lallemand at Bourges 357 - - 218. Jacques Cœur's house at Bourges 358 - - 219. Town-hall of Pienza, Italy 361 - - 220. Town-hall and belfry at Ypres 363 - - 221. Market and belfry at Bruges 365 - - 222. Town-hall of Bruges 366 - - 223. Town-hall at Louvain 368 - - 224. Belfry of Tournai (Belgium) 370 - - 225. Belfry of Ghent (Belgium) 371 - - 226. Belfry at Calais (France) 374 - - 227. Belfry of Béthune (France) 376 - - 228. Belfry of Évreux (France) 377 - - 229. Belfry of Avignon (France) 378 - - 230. Belfry gate known as _La Grosse Cloche_, Bordeaux 379 - - 231. Cloth hall known as _La Loge_, Perpignan 381 - - 232. Bishop's Palace at Laon 382 - - 233. Archbishop's Palace at Albi. Plan 383 - - 234. Archbishop's Palace at Albi. General view 384 - - 235. Palace of the Popes at Avignon. Plan 385 - - 236. Palace of the Popes at Avignon. General view 387 - - - - - GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE - - - - - INTRODUCTION - - -The term _Gothic_, as applied to the architectural period dating from -the middle of the twelfth to the end of the fifteenth century, is -purely conventional. - -The expression is clearly misleading as indicating the architecture -of the Goths or Visigoths; for these tribes were vanquished by Clovis -in the sixth century, and left no monumental trace of their invasion. -Hence, their influence upon art was _nil_. The term is radically -false both from the historical and the archæological point of view, -and originates in an error which demands the strenuous opposition -due to persistent fallacies. By a strange irony of fate the term -_Gothic_, used in the last century merely as the opprobrious synonym -of _barbaric_, has been specialised within the last sixty years in -connection with that polished epoch of the Middle Ages which sheds -most lustre upon our national art. And this, in spite of its Germanic -origin. - -Romanesque architecture, or to be exact, that architecture which, -by virtue of the archæologic convention of 1825, we agree to label -Romanesque, undoubtedly borrowed its essential elements from the -Romans and Byzantines, modifying and perfecting them by the genius -of Western Europe; but the architectural period which began in the -middle of the twelfth century, and is so unjustly dubbed _Gothic_, was -of purely French birth; its cradle was the nucleus of modern France. -Aquitaine, Anjou, and Maine were the provinces in which it first took -root. The royal domain, and notably the Ile-de-France, witnessed its -most marvellous developments, and it was from the very heart of France -that its splendour radiated throughout Europe. - -But the tyranny of usage leaves us no choice as to the title of this -volume. We are compelled to style it _Gothic Architecture_, though we -would gladly have registered our protest by naming it _French Mediæval -Architecture_.[1] - -[1] This idea, which has recently found support in quarters which -might have been considered free from such _chauvinism_, is based -upon a narrow and peculiarly modern view of art. Art activities in -the Middle Ages were as instinctive and unconscious as speech. The -forms of architecture were invented and elaborated much in the same -way as language. For the purpose of the historian of architecture, -the northern half of France, the three southern quarters of Great -Britain, and the districts threaded by the Rhine, form a single -country, a single _foyer_ of art. They all pressed on from similar -starting-points to similar goals; and if the French went ahead in -one direction, they fell astern in another. It may be allowed that, -on the whole, the architects of the _Ile-de-France_ did better than -their rivals. Gothic architecture is pre-eminently logical, and logic -is pre-eminently the artistic gift of the Frenchman. So that its more -scientific development in the "French royal domain" was only to be -expected. That success of this kind gives a right to call the whole -development "French mediæval architecture" cannot be allowed.--ED. - -The term _Gothic_ is, however, purely arbitrary, as is also that -of _pointed_, which has been introduced by writers who admit the -principle of the broken arch as the characteristic of so-called Gothic -architecture. - -The broken or pointed arch, which is formed by the intersection of -two opposite curves at an angle more or less acute, was known to -architects long before its systematic application. It occurs in -buildings of the ninth century in Cairo, and was used prior to this -in Armenia, and still earlier in Persia, where indeed it superseded -all other forms of span from the times of the last of the Sassanides -onwards. It is an expedient which gives increased power of resistance -to the arch by diminishing its lateral thrusts. - -The pointed arch is a form which admits of infinite variations. The -one law which governs its construction is expediency. It frankly -abandons those rules of classic proportion which are the canons, so -to speak, of the round-headed arch. Thus we shall find the pointed -approximating to the round-headed form in the twelfth century, only -to diverge from it more widely than before, till, towards the close -of the thirteenth and throughout the fourteenth century, it took on -the acute proportions necessitated by a perilous disposition to prefer -loftiness to solidity. - -Fundamentally, it is of little moment whether the architecture of the -twelfth to the sixteenth century be termed Gothic or pointed, when -we recognise these terms as equally inexact. The point to be really -insisted upon is that the filiation we have already demonstrated in -our book on Romanesque Architecture continued slowly, but surely, in -the wake of civilisation, of which architecture is ever one of the -most striking manifestations. - -So-called Gothic architecture was not the product of a single -generation; it was the continuous logical development of the -Romanesque movement, just as the latter in its time had been the -outcome of a gradual adaptation of old traditions to new-born -exigencies. Thus our Aquitainian forbears, by their successful -translation into stone of the eastern cupola, prepared the way for -the groined vault, the embryo of which is clearly traceable in the -pendentives of the dome at St. Front. - -The great churches which, towards the middle of the twelfth century, -rose throughout the rich Western provinces that cluster about -Aquitaine, were all constructed with groined vaults. In these examples -we can discern no halting, tentative application of newly adopted -principles. The work is that of consummate architects, who brought -to their labours the assurance born of experienced skill, and in the -later part of the twelfth century, the new system had replaced all -others for the construction of vaults throughout Western Europe. - -The architects of the royal domain, and notably those of the -Ile-de-France, had been the first to adopt the groined vault. Towards -the close of the twelfth century their assimilation of the new -principles, their native ingenuity, and professional hardihood alike -urged them to its further development. They became the inventors of -the flying buttress. - -The substitution of the groined vault for its parent, the cupola, -was the direct consequence of the old tradition. The development -was merely a stage in the march of ideas, a consummation logically -arrived at in the track which the Romans, constructors not less -bold though more prudent than their artistic progeny, had marked -out for them. The groined vault, in short, is simply the growth -of Roman principles perfected by continuous experiment. But the -flying buttress, or rather the system of construction based on its -use, caused a radical change in the art of building of the twelfth -century. Stability, which in the ancient buildings was ensured by -solid masses at the impost of vaults and arches, was replaced by the -balance of parts. From this daring system some of the most marvellous -of architectural effects have been won; but the innovation had a -dangerous inherent weakness, inasmuch as it involved the exterior -position of those essential vital organs for whose preservation the -ancients had wisely provided, by keeping them within the building. - -It is therefore not surprising that though fifty years after its -introduction the groined vault was generally adopted throughout -Western Europe, and even in the East, the success of the flying -buttress was infinitely more gradual and restricted. Thus, in the -North, the multiplication of great religious monuments built, or even -rebuilt on the new lines, was simultaneous with the construction in -the South of vast churches on the old principles. The adventurous -builders of the North had eagerly adopted the new division of churches -into several aisles, all with groined vaults, the vault of the great -central nave relying upon exterior flying buttresses for resistance to -its thrust. - -In the South, on the other hand, architects were prudent, either -through instinctive resistance to, or deliberate reaction from, the -innovating influence, or by way of fidelity to an ancient tradition. -They built with a single aisle, wide and lofty; the vaults were -indeed supported by ribs, but their thrusts were received by powerful -buttresses inside the walls, the projections thus formed being further -utilised for the construction of chapels in the intervals. - -This latter system, which has the incontestable merit of perfect -solidity, recalls the construction of the Basilica of Constantine, -or of the tepidarium in the Baths of Caracalla. The stability of the -edifice was ensured by the resistance of masses at the imposts, and -the whole principle of construction formed, as it were, a protest -against the miracles of equilibrium so much in favour among the -Northerners. - -The new system of vaults supported by flying buttresses made -very slight way in the South. It appears but rarely, and in the -few instances where it is used has entirely the air of a foreign -importation. Even in the cradle of its origin, it took root slowly -and with difficulty, for its first applications were not without -disaster. Lacking that mathematical knowledge which is the mainstay -of the modern architect, the experimental skill shown by the -thirteenth-century builder in constructing his vaults, and then -in neutralising their thrusts by flying buttresses reduced to -the legitimate function of permanent struts, was little short of -miraculous. For it must be borne in mind that the thrust of these -vaults, and the strength of the flying buttresses, varied of necessity -according to their span, and the resisting powers of their materials. -It was only by dint of long gropings in the dark that the necessarily -empirical formulæ of the innovators were gradually transformed into -recognised rules, and this knotty problem of construction received -no positive solution till the last years of the thirteenth, or more -emphatically, the first years of the fourteenth century. While even -then the solution could claim no universal acceptance, for what was -comparatively easy in countries where stone abounds became difficult, -if not impossible, in districts where such a material as brick was the -sole resource of builders. - -Nevertheless, the growth of Gothic architecture was rapid, so rapid -that even in the fourteenth century it began to show symptoms of that -swift decadence which is the Nemesis of facile success. The abuse of -equilibrium, the excessive diminution of points of support--defects -often aggravated by insecurity of foundation and exaggerated loftiness -of structure--the poor quality of materials, and the faulty setting -thereof due to empirical methods, the over-rapidity of execution -caused by mistaken emulation, the dearth of funds consequent on -social and political convulsions complicated by the miseries of -war,--all these things joined hands for the extinction of a once -resplendent art. But the initial cause of its ruin must be sought in -its abandonment of antique traditions. These traditions had persisted -uninterruptedly throughout the so-called Romanesque period, only to -pave the way for a seductive art in novel form, which, casting aside -the trammels of the past in obedience to the dictates of the moment, -fell on decay as rapidly as it had risen to eminence. Dawning in the -France of Louis the Fat, it reached its apogee under St. Louis, and -was in full decadence before the close of the fifteenth century. - -The narrow limits assigned to us forbid not only detailed discussion -of our great monuments, but even a summary of the most famous. We must -be content to work out that theory of evolution already put forward by -us in _L'Architecture Romane_. We propose merely to offer a synthesis -of that architectural development which succeeded the so-called -Romanesque epoch, from its birth in the twelfth to its extinction in -the fifteenth century. - -And as the groined vault is, broadly speaking, the essential -characteristic of so-called Gothic architecture, and the flying -buttress one of its most interesting manifestations, we shall make -a special study of their origin, their modifications, and their -principal applications in connection with religious, monastic, -military, and civil architecture. We shall dwell more particularly -upon religious architecture as presenting the grandest and most -obvious evidences of artistic progress, not in its admirable buildings -alone, but in those masterpieces of painting and sculpture to which it -gave birth in France. - - - - - PART I - - RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE - - - - - CHAPTER I - - THE INFLUENCE OF THE CUPOLA UPON SO-CALLED GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE - - _The cupola, in its symbolic aspect, was the germ, whence sprang - an architectural system the revolutionary action of which upon - art can scarcely be over-estimated._[2] - -[2] _L'Architecture Romane_, by Ed. Corroyer; Quantin, Paris, 1888. - -So-called Gothic architecture was no spontaneous and miraculous -manifestation. Like all human activities, its end is easy to -determine; but it is difficult to fix even an approximate date for -its beginning. The traces of its origin are lost in that period of -architectural activity which preceded it, and prepared its way by a -train of unbroken evolution. - -The cupola of St. Front, which we may reasonably call the mother -cupola of France, was not an imitation of that of St. Mark at -Venice, for both were based upon the church built by Justinian at -Constantinople, in honour of the Holy Apostles. But the form thus -imported into Aquitaine received such modification and development, as -to make it virtually an original achievement. One of the knottiest of -architectural problems was solved in the process, and that admirable -constructive principle was established which consists in concentrating -the thrust of a vault upon four points of support strengthened by -pendentives. - -The construction of such a cupola as that of St. Front in dressed -stone was an event of great moment in a district which still preserved -the Gallo-Roman tradition in its integrity, and was commonly reputed -the fatherland of our architecture. Its immediate consequences were -shown before the close of the eleventh century by the erection of -large abbey churches on the model of St. Front in various neighbouring -provinces. - -But while accepting the new principle, the architects of the period -directed their energies to its perfectibility. Their efforts, and -even their successes, in this direction are manifest so early as the -first years of the twelfth century. The churches of Angoulême and -of Fontevrault may be cited in proof. "We here recognise the main -preoccupation of the Romanesque builders--namely, how best to reduce -the immense masses of churches built with the primitive cupola by a -more deliberate and judicious distribution of thrust and resistance. -We further see how the adoption of these principles led to the -emphasising of critical points by buttresses, which now began to -project from the exterior walls."[3] - -[3] _L'Architecture Romane_, by Ed. Corroyer; Quantin, Paris, 1888. - -The new system spread rapidly, notably in Anjou and Maine, its growth -being marked by an ever-increasing refinement and perfection. The -architects of the rich abbeys of these provinces, the importance of -which was aggrandised by their strong attachments to the all-powerful -religious organisation of the period, gave a further development -to the Aquitainian method. They transformed the pendentives of the -cupolas into independent arches which performed exactly the same -functions, thus logically working out an architectonic principle of -amazing simplicity, the success of which was so rapid that, by the -middle of the twelfth century, it was systematically applied to the -construction of great churches at Angers, Laval, and Poitiers. - -The works of the Angevin architects were of course known to their -Northern brethren, who, in common with all the builders of the day, -had long been seeking the final solution of the great problem of -the vault. The architects of the Ile-de-France at once appropriated -the Angevin system with that special professional ingenuity which -characterised them, and applied it to the construction of innumerable -churches, large and small, all of them built on the basilican -plan--that is to say, with three, or even five aisles. - -Thus the Aquitainian cupola of dressed stone exercised an absolutely -direct influence upon Gothic architecture, since it gave birth to the -_intersecting arch_, which is the main feature of so-called Gothic. -This influence was first manifested in the general arrangement of -single-aisled churches vaulted upon intersecting ribs, the earliest -departure from the original cupola. It was then more grandiosely -demonstrated in vast abbey or cathedral churches, built in accordance -with the basilican tradition, and all vaulted on the new principle. - -Angers and Laval are primitive examples of churches whose square -compartments carry groined vaults, which thenceforth took the place of -cupolas with pendentives. - -The abbey church of Noyon shows the application of this principle, -novel in the twelfth century, to the several-aisled churches of the -Northern architects. The _original_ vaults of Noyon[4] were planned in -square. The intersecting arches united the principal piers diagonally, -the strain being relieved by a subordinate or auxiliary arch which -rested upon secondary piers, indicated on the exterior by buttresses -less salient than those of the main piers, and on the interior by a -column receiving the lateral archivolts which united the chief piers. - -[4] The original disposition of the vaults built about 1160 is -indicated by the spring of the arches above the capitals, and by the -base plan of the principal piers. The present vaults on rectangular -plan were built after the fire of 1238, in accordance with prevailing -fashions. - -This system of construction, the principle of which was logically -developed at Noyon, for instance, no longer exists, save in its -traditional state in the great churches of Laon, and in the cathedrals -of Paris, Sens, and Bourges, to name but the principal, without regard -to the innumerable churches built on these principles throughout -Western Europe. In these great buildings the vaults were all square on -plan down to the adoption in the first half of the thirteenth century -of equal bays, vaulted on a rectangular plan, and marked inside and -out by equal piers and projections, as at Amiens, Rheims, and many -other churches of the period. - -Hence we see how incontestable was the influence of the cupola -upon so-called Gothic architecture. This truth is demonstrated by -monuments yet in existence, lapidary documents above suspicion. It -cannot be insisted upon too strongly, not merely for the satisfaction -of archæeologic accuracy, but more especially as yet another proof -that the filiation between the art of the ancients and that of the -so-called Romanesque architects is no less evident than that which -links together the Romanesque and the so-called Gothic. Of this latter -filiation we have a direct proof in the Aquitainian cupola, the parent -of those of Angoumois, which in their turn gave birth to the Angevin -intersecting arch, and so prepared the way for the flying buttress, -which again was to mark a new departure. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - THE ORIGIN OF THE INTERSECTING VAULT - - -So early as the eleventh century churches were built with one or -several aisles, and in this latter case the side aisles only had -ribbed vaults, the nave being covered by a timber roof. The next step -was to vault all three aisles, buttressing the barrel-vaulted nave by -continuous half-barrel vaults or ribbed vaults over the aisles, and -further strengthening it by projecting transverse arches, or _arcs -doubleaux_, the whole being crowned by a roof which embraced the side -aisles. These cumbrous and timidly constructed buildings were merely -imitations of the Roman basilicas. To ensure their solidity they had -perforce to be narrow; and the necessary abolition of top lighting -made them gloomy. We find then that, before the appearance of the -cupola, mediæval architects were perfectly acquainted both with the -barrel vault and the ribbed vault, the latter formed, on traditional -principles, by the interpenetration of two demi-cylinders. They had -even attempted to improve upon the construction by strengthening the -line of penetration with a salient rib, giving an elliptic arch. But -this rib was purely decorative, for in the Roman vault the stones -at the line of intersection, whether ribbed or not, were in complete -solidarity with the filling on either side in which they were buried. - -It follows that we shall seek in vain in the Roman ribbed vault the -germ of the intersecting arch, with its essentially active functions. - -For the origin of the intersecting arch we must turn to the eleventh -century. We shall find it in the dressed stone cupola of St. Front, -and more especially in its pendentives. - -Fig. 1 gives the plan of one of the cupolas of St. Front. It is -composed of four massive transverse arches, the thrusts of which are -received upon four piers united by pendentives (Figs. 2 and 3) passing -from the re-entering angles at the spring of the arches to the base -of the circular dome itself, each of the concentric courses bearing -upon the keys of the _arcs-doubleaux_, and transmitting to them, and -therefore to the piers by which they are supported, the weight of the -cupola itself. - - [Illustration: 1. PLAN OF A CUPOLA OF THE ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. FRONT AT - PÉRIGUEUX] - - [Illustration: 2. PENDENTIVE (MARKED A) OF A CUPOLA OF THE ABBEY - CHURCH OF ST. FRONT] - - [Illustration: 3. SECTION OF A PENDENTIVE ON THE DIAGONAL A TO B IN - PLAN, FIG. 1] - -Fig. 3 is a section through one of the pendentives of St. Front, -following the line A B in Fig. 1. It shows that the first six courses -are cut so as to make what is called a _tas de chargé_; the upper -surfaces are horizontal, the faces curved to the radius of the dome -itself. After the sixth course the voussoirs are cut normally to the -curve of the arch. The vaulting of religious buildings having long -been the crux of mediæval architects, the construction of the St. -Front cupolas must have been an event much noised abroad, for towards -the close of the eleventh century a large number of churches with -cupolas were built in imitation of the mother church at Périgueux. - -The construction of the churches of Angoulême and Fontevrault in the -first years of the twelfth century shows that the architects were -attempting to cover spaces of ever-increasing span on the Aquitainian -model, while at the same time they set themselves to lighten their -vaults, and consequently to reduce their points of support. - -Fig. 4 gives the plan of one of the cupolas of Angoulême or of -Fontevrault, both being built on precisely similar plan, with the -exception of the number of bays to the nave. - - [Illustration: 4. PLAN OF A CUPOLA OF ANGOULÊME OR FONTEVRAULT] - -Fig. 5 gives the section of a bay in one of these churches, and -illustrates the considerable difference already existing between -the mother cupola of St. Front and its offspring. The cupola on -pendentives begins to show a certain attenuation, and we shall -presently note a fresh step forward towards the solution of that -problem so persistently grappled with by the mediæval architect--how -to reduce the weight of the vault. - - [Illustration: 5. SECTION OF A BAY OF THE CUPOLAS OF ANGOULÊME] - -The Church of St. Avit-Sénieur furnishes a most instructive example. - -The cupola of this building is strengthened by stiffening ribs. It -becomes an annular vault, formed of almost horizontal keyed courses, -sustained by transverse and diagonal ribs, which act the part of a -permanent centering. - -The Church of St. Pierre at Saumur marks a further step onwards in the -construction of vaults derived from the cupola.[5] - -[5] _L'Architecture Romane_, by Ed. Corroyer. - -Finally, the architects of Maine and Anjou achieved the long-desired -consummation. Under their treatment the pendentives resolved -themselves into their actively useful elements, the visible signs of -which were diagonal or intersecting arches, salient and independent, -set in precisely the same manner as the pendentives of the cupola -(Fig. 3), and performing identical functions (Fig. 8). - - [Illustration: 6. SECTION OF A BAY IN THE CHURCH OF ST. AVIT-SÉNIEUR] - - [Illustration: 7. PLAN OF VAULT ON INTERSECTING ARCHES] - -The vault proper is no longer formed of concentric courses, as in the -mother cupola. It consists thenceforward of voussoirs cut normally to -the curve, and filling the triangles (A, B, C, D, Fig. 7) determined -by the longitudinal, the diagonal or intersecting, and the transverse -arches. These arches form a stone skeleton, no less solid though far -less ponderous than the cupola pendentives, and sustain the vault by -distributing its thrusts over four points of support. - -The triangular fillings no longer imprison the ribs, or, more exactly -speaking, the intersecting arches, nor do they any longer neutralise -their active functions. These fillings, on the other hand, have, like -the intersecting arch, gained a new independence. They now contribute -to the elasticity of the divers organs of the vault, a most essential -element in its solidity. The peculiar arrangement of the intersecting -arches in the nave of Angers gives incontrovertible proof of the -direct filiation of this building to the Aquitainian cupola. The -voussoirs of the intersecting arches are about equal in horizontal -section to those of the transverse arches, while their vertical -section equals the thickness of the filling plus the internal salience -which marks their function. They look in fact like slices cut from -the pendentives of a cupola (A, Fig. 8). It must be remarked, too, -that at Angers the stones of the filling do not yet rest upon the -extrados of the ribs, in the fashion adopted some years later in the -Ile-de-France and elsewhere (see B, Fig. 8), but embrace them (as at -A). - - [Illustration: 8. SECTION OF AN INTERSECTING ARCH] - -The identity of function in the pendentive and in the Gothic -intersecting arch, both constructed, as they are, of stones dressed -normally to their curves, shows that they sprang from a common origin, -which is as much as to say that the Aquitainian cupola begat the -intersecting vault. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - THE FIRST GROINED VAULTS - - -The first application of the system of intersecting vaults appears in -the great churches of Angers and Laval. - -It is probable that the new methods propagated by the religious -architects of Aquitaine and neighbouring provinces had excited the -emulation of the Northern builders, more especially those of the -Ile-de-France. Evidences to this effect are to be found in certain -subordinate portions of their buildings at this period, such as side -aisles or apsidal chapels. Their timid arrangement seems, however, -reminiscent of the Roman system of ribbed vaulting, with a slightly -increased prominence of the ribs superadded, rather than of the -revolution that had been effected in church vaulting generally. - - [Illustration: 9. PLAN OF A BAY IN THE NAVE OF ST. MAURICE AT ANGERS] - - [Illustration: 10. TRANSVERSE SECTION OF THE NAVE OF ST. MAURICE AT - ANGERS] - -But, if we except perhaps Laval, nowhere shall we find the new system -of vaulting upon intersecting arches more mightily demonstrated than -at Angers, the aisles of which measure 54 feet across. The grandeur -of the architectural composition, no less than the admirable technical -skill shown in the details, gives proof of the consummate mastery -arrived at by the builders of these noble structures so early as the -middle of the twelfth century. The plan of these churches resembles -that of Angoulême and Fontevrault. It is in no way allied to the -Northern buildings. - - [Illustration: 11. PLAN OF A BAY OF THE NAVE IN THE CHURCH OF LA STE. - TRINITÉ AT LAVAL] - -They are constructed with single aisles, like the cupola churches, -with a series of bays, square on plan; but the arrangement of the -vaults has been perfected by the logical use of intersecting arches in -the place of pendentives, the architects of the day having realised -by this time the progress we have explained and demonstrated in the -preceding chapter. - -These vast aisles, vaulted on intersecting arches, are of course -allied to the cupolas; they recall their general outline, but the -arrangement of the vaulting is different. The intersecting ribs are -no longer merely decorative features; they have taken on all the -active functions of the _arc-doubleau_ and the formeret. Their union -constitutes an elastic ossature, the weight being concentrated upon -four points of support, which receive the impost of the arches, and -compose a stone skeleton, each unit of which has been cut and dressed -to fill the exact place it occupies in the whole. - - [Illustration: 12. LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF TWO BAYS IN THE NAVE OF LA - STE. TRINITÉ AT LAVAL] - -If we compare the sections (Figs. 13 and 14) of the churches of -Angoulême and Angers, we may clearly trace the filiation between these -buildings, the one dating from the first years of the twelfth century, -the other from some thirty or even forty years later. We shall also -note the advance made by the Angevin architects in the construction of -groined vaults in the place of domes with pendentives, a development -worked out by the more perfect and reasoned application of the same -architectural principle. - - [Illustration: 13 AND 14. COMPARATIVE SECTIONS OF THE CHURCHES OF - ANGOULÊME AND ANGERS] - - [Illustration: 15. VIEW IN PERSPECTIVE OF THE NAVE VAULT OF - ST. MAURICE AT ANGERS] - -The Church of Laval, built simultaneously with that of Angers, -or only a few years later, shows a further advance, not merely in -the matter of form, but in the increased science and ingenuity of -combinations, and the methodical accuracy of the execution. - - [Illustration: 16. PLAN OF A SUMMER OF THE NAVE VAULT OF LA STE. - TRINITÉ AT LAVAL] - - [Illustration: 17. PLAN OF ONE OF THE PIERS OF THE NAVE OF LA STE. - TRINITÉ AT LAVAL] - -The arches which compose the ossature of the vaults become independent -in their functions, as at Angers, immediately upon leaving the abacus, -an essential characteristic of the new system. The lateral points of -support are composed of piers proper and of clustered columns, crowned -by corbelled capitals, which, by prolonging them, mark the formerets, -the diagonal, and the transverse arches as they fall upon the abaci. -It is easy to see in this arrangement the origin of those clustered -shafts so generally and even excessively used in the thirteenth and -fourteenth centuries, the main object of which was to conceal as far -as possible the points of support. - -These details, and the section (Fig. 12) showing the mode of -construction in the vaults, demonstrate sufficiently that at Laval, no -less than at Angers, a direct filiation exists between the dome upon -pendentives and the groined and ribbed vault. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - BUILDINGS VAULTED UPON INTERSECTING ARCHES - - -The new system derived from the domes upon pendentives, so brilliantly -applied in Anjou and Maine in the first half of the twelfth century, -was thenceforth the normal method of the religious architect. The -admirable simplicity of the new method and its adaptability to every -class of building, from the great abbey church to the modest chapel, -sufficiently accounts for its rapid dissemination throughout Western -Europe, where religious bodies had founded innumerable abbeys, large -and small, of varying rules and orders, but all welded together by one -mighty organisation. - -A long array of churches on the Angevin model rose, not only in the -neighbouring provinces--as Ste. Radegonde at Poitiers, Notre Dame de -la Coulture and the nave of St. Julien at Mans,--but farther afield -towards the south. To name only the most important--the charming -Church of Thor, dedicated to Ste. Marie du Lac, between Avignon and -the fountain of Vaucluse; that of St. Sauveur at St. Macaire, near -Bordeaux; the nave of St. André at Bordeaux, begun in 1252 on the -cupola plan, but modified and finally crowned with a groined and -ribbed vault; St. Caprais at Agen, which shows the same modifications, -and lastly, the immense brick nave of St. Étienne at Toulouse, -which measures 64 feet--all demonstrate the progression of the new -principles in the second half of the twelfth century. - - [Illustration: 18. PLAN OF THE NAVE, ST. MAURICE AT ANGERS] - -Towards the North the advance was no less general. Various buildings -show to what excellent account contemporary architects had turned the -system of vaults on intersecting arches, recognising its admirable -adaptability to different climates, and to the most diverse materials. -But it was reserved for Angers, the cradle of its birth, to give an -added perfection to this ingenious system. - -The Church of the Ste. Trinité, on the right bank of the Maine, built -by the sons or pupils of those architects who had planned St. Maurice -for the hill on the opposite shore, marks a fresh advance in the -construction of these vaults. Like St. Maurice, it has but a single -aisle, which is divided into three bays, each as nearly as possible -square on plan. The system of vaulting takes on a greater elegance by -the insertion of a transverse arch, with its supporting shafts, in the -centre of each bay. This divides the bay into two equal parts, and, -cutting the diagonal ribs at their intersection, supports them at the -critical point. - -Fig. 19 gives the plan of these vaults, the system of which was -eagerly seized upon by the Northern architects, and the great abbey -church of Noyon appears to have been the first-fruits of this new -development of the Angevin idea. - - [Illustration: 19. PLAN OF THE CHURCH OF LA STE. TRINITÉ AT ANGERS] - - [Illustration: 20. LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF A BAY OF LA STE. TRINITÉ AT - ANGERS] - -The great abbey churches and immense cathedrals which were built from -the second half of the twelfth to the middle of the thirteenth century -attest the importance of the development carried out at Angers by -the arrangement of their own vaults in square compartments. For we -now find this system adopted in the construction of the churches or -cathedrals of Noyon, Laon, Notre Dame at Paris, Sens, and Bourges, to -name only acknowledged masterpieces of so-called Gothic. - - [Illustration: 21. TRANSVERSE SECTION OF A BAY OF LA STE. TRINITÉ AT - ANGERS] - -The influence of the cupola, which we established in our first -chapter, was both direct and consecutive. It was direct in churches -built with one aisle and vaulted on intersecting arches, and -consecutive in the so-called Romanesque churches, which were either -completed or modified on the new lines by the substitution of vaults -on intersecting arches of dressed stone for timber roofs. A large -number of buildings in England, Normandy, Germany, Northern Italy, -Switzerland, the Rhine Provinces, and those of Northern France bear -testimony of the highest interest to the transformations consequent on -the invention of the groined vault and its universal application. - -Architects who had been trained in the great abbey schools, emboldened -by the successes of their forerunners and their own individual -experience, raised on every hand vast cathedrals, in which every known -development of the system was essayed with unequalled daring. Going -on from strength to strength, they eventually abandoned the antique -traditions, and disregarding the statical conditions which ensured -the solidity of the ancient buildings, they invented a system of -construction which is, as it were, merely a skeleton in stone, a stone -version of the timbered roof; its characteristic expression was the -permanent strut known as the _flying buttress_; its governing idea -was equilibrium, for which it provided by architectural stratagems -ingenious in the highest degree, but also extremely precarious. Its -existence or stability depends for the most part on the quality of the -materials and their degrees of resisting power, the essential organs, -by which I mean those vital _weight-carrying_ portions, the failure -of which would involve the ruin of the whole, being _outside_ the -building, and therefore exposed to all those deteriorating influences -from which the _load_ they bear, that is to say, the vaults, are -protected by walls and roof. - - [Illustration: 22. SECTION OF A SINGLE-AISLED CHURCH VAULTED ON - INTERSECTING ARCHES WITH BUTTRESSES] - - [Illustration: 23. SECTION OF A THREE-AISLED CHURCH VAULTED ON - INTERSECTING ARCHES WITH FLYING BUTTRESSES] - -The great buildings constructed on these new principles consisted of -a central nave with two, or even four side aisles. The huge structure -depended for its light first upon low windows in the collateral -portions, secondly, upon windows at a much higher level. Hence it -became necessary to raise the vault of the central nave, and to -give it an abutment in the form of _detached semi-arches_ or flying -buttresses. The crowns of these semi-arches impinged the piers at the -planes of greatest pressure and received the collective thrust of -all the ribs, formerets, transverse and diagonal arches. Their bases -rested upon abutments, the strength of which was calculated according -to the thrust they had to meet. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - ORIGIN OF THE FLYING BUTTRESS - - -The primitive method of vaulting adopted in the central provinces of -France in the construction of churches with three aisles rendered such -buildings of necessity low and heavy. The main aisle being covered by -a barrel vault, supported on either side by a continuous half-barrel -vault, the sole means of lighting lay in the windows of the side -aisles, so that the nave was always gloomy in the extreme. The -Norman architects had avoided this difficulty, first in their native -province, and afterwards in England, by vaulting the subordinate -aisles only, and by raising the lateral walls of the nave high enough -to allow a line of windows to be introduced between the lean-to roofs -of the side aisles and the nave roof, the latter being an open timber -construction instead of a vault. - -The lateral gallery in the first story of Norman churches built on the -basilican model is merely a development of the ancient tradition.[6] -It bears the name of triforium because--or so we are told--each -compartment of such an interior gallery between the main piers of the -nave was originally divided into three by pillars supporting lintels -or by small columns supporting an arcade. - -[6] See _L'Architecture Romane_, by Ed. Corroyer; Maison Quantin, -Paris, 1888, chaps. i. iii. and iv. - -Towards the close of the eleventh century Norman architects on both -sides of the Channel were raising vast churches, the side aisles of -which bore above their ribbed vaults galleries after the fashion -of the primitive basilicas. These galleries in their turn were -covered by open timber roofs like that of the nave. The bays were -emphasised in the nave and in the side aisles by transverse arches, -or _arcs-doubleaux_, which served as buttresses to those of the main -vault. But after the adoption, towards the middle of the twelfth -century, of the Angevin method of vaulting for religious buildings, -the functions of the lateral walls and of the supporting arches became -better defined, for these walls and arches had now to meet the thrusts -of the transverse as well as that of the diagonal arches, which, -meeting in bundles, as it were, at each pier, gathered their energies -at well-marked points. - -It was thus that the cross walls or _arcs-doubleaux_ of the side -aisles were gradually modified till they became detached semi-arches -concealed beneath the outer roof of the side aisles. - -We have traced this modification in the Abbaye aux Dames at Caen.[7] - -[7] _L'Architecture Romane_, by Ed. Corroyer; Paris, Maison Quantin, -88, chap. xvii. - -Fig. 24 shows us an English example. It may be followed out in a -number of other churches in England, at Pavia in Italy, at Zurich in -Switzerland, and at Basle on the Rhine, to name but a few of the -churches in which the modification of the vaults was long posterior to -the construction of the building itself. - - [Illustration: 24. DURHAM CATHEDRAL. TRANSVERSE SECTIONS] - -In France we shall find no example more deeply interesting than -Noyon, which at the date of its construction (the last quarter of -the twelfth century) formed, as it were, an epitome of the advance -so far made by the architects of the Ile-de-France. In this curious -building we find a fusion of the antique tradition developed by the -Normans in their triforiums, and of the Angevin methods, as manifested -in the groined vaults derived from domes: methods further perfected -by the example of La Ste. Trinité at Angers; in other words, by the -adoption of intersecting arches planned on a square, the thrusts of -all being received on the main piers, reinforced by an intermediate -transverse arch. And we note the appearance of the detached semi-arch -beneath the roofing of the inferior aisles merging at its springing -into the lateral _arc-doubleau_, and so resisting the thrust of the -intersecting arches and transverse arches of the nave. - - [Illustration: 25. ABBEY CHURCH AT NOYON. PLAN] - - [Illustration: 26. TRANSVERSE SECTION OF NOYON CHURCH] - -It has been said that Noyon was suggested by Tournai, doubtless on -account of their superficial affinities. But the likeness is merely in -general aspect, the methods of construction being wholly different. At -Tournai the apsidal transepts are vaulted upon transverse arches of -great strength, and upon radiating semi-arches united where they meet -by a ring of voussoirs set horizontally, and at their springing by -vaults keyed into their mass, an ingenious arrangement which recalls -the vaulting of the _Salle des Capitaines_ over the porch of the -monastery church at Moissac. - -The combination of these _arcs-doubleaux_, which, in addition to the -solidity of their independent structure, are strongly reinforced by -the massive circular courses of the walls, is very peculiar, for it -dispenses altogether both with auxiliary arches and with abutments. -Tournai, therefore, cannot be held to have begotten Noyon, for here -we have groined vaults, the intersecting arches of which demand the -reinforcement of abutments either concealed or apparent to sustain -the thrust of these vaults over the lateral _arcs-doubleaux_. The -ingenious arrangement above cited had in no sense modified the methods -of abutment followed by the architects of the twelfth century even -after the adoption of the vault on intersecting arches. These, as will -be remembered, consisted in buttressing the walls and piers of the -nave by cross walls or by arches concealed beneath the roofing of the -side aisles. - - [Illustration: 27. CHURCH OF TOURNAI, BELGIUM. EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE - NORTH TRANSEPT TOWARDS THE SCHELDT] - -We find at Soissons the first application of an architectural system, -the special feature of which is the _flying buttress_. - - [Illustration:28. MONASTERY CHURCH AT MOISSAC. VAULT OF THE HALL KNOWN - AS THE HALL OF THE CAPTAINS ABOVE THE PORCH] - - [Illustration: 29. CHURCH OF TOURNAI, BELGIUM. INTERIOR OF THE NORTH - TRANSEPT] - -The south transept of Soissons Cathedral was evidently suggested by -Noyon. This is apparent in the adoption of the two-storied side aisle -and in the semi-circular plan. But the method of vaulting common to -both churches has a greater refinement at Soissons. Reduced to its -simplest expression of strength by the attenuation of its skeleton, -the vault still exercises its full thrust on those parts which rise -above the upper gallery. - -The architect of Soissons was not content, like his brother of Noyon, -to support the vault laterally by interior arches collaborating with -the _arcs-doubleaux_ of the triforium, and reinforced by an abutment -impinging on the wall of the central nave. To him the idea occurred of -detached semi-arches in open air, springing from above the roof of the -triforium and its buttresses and marking each bay. Thus was born the -_flying buttress_, a feature frankly emphasising its special aim and -function, namely, to meet the thrust of the main vault at its points -of concentration. - - [Illustration:30. SOISSONS CATHEDRAL. SOUTH TRANSEPT. SECTION OF - FLYING BUTTRESS] - - [Illustration: 31. PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF SOUTH TRANSEPT, SOISSONS - CATHEDRAL[8]] - -[8] These flying buttresses, in themselves insufficient for the task -laid upon them, and worn by the destructive action of the weather, -were pushed entirely out of shape by the constant pressure from -within, the thrust of the vault being aggravated by the circular -plan of the building, while the vaults themselves became dislocated -by reason of their insufficient abutments. It became necessary to -reconstruct the buttresses in 1880, to avert the total collapse of the -south transept. - -The reconstruction of these flying buttresses, and of many others of -the same period, furnishes us with a criticism _ad hominem_ upon the -system. - -The flying buttress, in combination with the intersecting arch, -gave birth to a new system of construction, a system on which -were raised vast buildings which compel our admiration and demand -our careful study, but should not invite our imitation. They are -monuments to the ingenuity of the twelfth and thirteenth century -architect, but no less are they beacons warning against the perils of -a rationalism--more apparent than real--which their authors carried to -its extreme limits, casting to the winds all traditional principles, -and consequently all authority. - -It would seem as though the architects of this period, emboldened by -such achievements as the churches of Noyon, Soissons, Laon, Paris, -Sens, and Bourges, and spurred by professional emulation, went on from -one feat of daring to another, passing from the triumphs of Rheims, -Amiens, and Mans to the supreme architectural folly of Beauvais, and -creating monuments no less amazing in dimension than in the statical -problems grappled with, if not always solved. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS OF THE TWELFTH AND THIRTEENTH CENTURIES - - -The study of mediæval architecture is one of the most fascinating of -pursuits, but it is one beset with difficulties. The obscurity in -which the origin of our great monuments is buried is profound and -often impenetrable. - -A fertile cause of error is the confusion which in many cases has -arisen between the dates of foundation and of consecration. Very often -a church was built and afterwards considerably modified, rather than -actually reconstructed, on the same consecrated site. - -Lightning was the most frequent cause of the destruction, total or -partial, of mediæval churches. Striking the steeple, the tower, or the -roof, it fired the timber superstructure of the nave. This in itself -would not have been an irreparable disaster; but as the timbers gave -way the calcined beams charred the piers, and so prepared the downfall -of the whole building, which was then either restored or reconstructed -in the fashion of the day. Hence, whether we base our deductions upon -more or less trustworthy records or upon contemporary readings of -existing data, the result is too often a confusion among vanished -monuments, or a contradiction between the buildings as they now exist -and the historic records which relate to them. - - [Illustration: 32. CATHEDRAL OF LAON. PLAN] - - [Illustration: 33. CATHEDRAL OF LAON. INTERIOR OF THE NAVE] - -Nothing is easier for interested theorists than to post-or ante-date -the structure of a building. They have nothing to fear from the -testimony of writers, and, with very few exceptions, it is difficult -to assign a precise date to the construction of great churches and -cathedrals or to point with certainty to their architects. The -obscurity of these great artists is perhaps to be accounted for by -the fact that they were ecclesiastics. As such the honour of their -achievements belonged not to the individual, but to the corporate -body, the _order_ of which they were members, and members moreover who -had, in most cases, taken the vow of humility. - -Modern science, architectural and archæological, has failed to throw -much positive light on this subject. It contents itself for the most -part with ingenious hypotheses and learned deductions which leave -us still in doubt as to precise dates. But we shall at least find -some sort of foothold in a careful architectural survey of buildings -themselves. This should be, of course, supplemented by study of -historic records, and such a study will convince us that art in the -Middle Ages, as in all epochs, obeyed the immutable laws of filiation -and transformation. We shall follow the artist step by step, observing -his research, his hesitation, his errors, and even his corrections. - -These are trustworthy documents in which to study the origin of a -building and to note its successive transformations, which latter were -far more frequent than total reconstructions. For it was not until the -beginning of the thirteenth century that great cathedral churches in -any considerable numbers were conceived and continuously executed.[9] - -[9] It is possible, if not easy, to trace the architectural -development of the Middle Ages in a good many cathedrals and -churches of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. We have, however, -confined ourselves, for the purposes of our present synthesis, to -the churches and cathedrals of the royal domain, and more especially -of the Ile-de-France, not only because they served as models for the -architects of their day, but because they illustrate in a remarkable -degree the various transitions we desire to study. - - [Illustration: 34. CATHEDRAL OF LAON. MAIN FAÇADE] - -The great abbey churches founded towards the close of the twelfth -century in the royal domain, but continued and finished in the early -years of the thirteenth, still preserved a more ancient tradition. - -Laon, which is derived from Noyon and from the south transept of -Soissons, consists of a nave with transepts, and of two-storied side -aisles vaulted upon intersecting arches, above which, as at Soissons, -rise flying buttresses, which meet the thrust of the main vault. - -This arrangement of the side aisles proves the continuity of the -Norman formulæ, just as the method of construction adopted in the main -vault demonstrates the persistent influence of the dome.[10] - -[10] See chap. i., "The Influence of the Cupola on Gothic -Architecture." - -The admirably constructed main vault is square on plan, each square -containing two transverse compartments, after the Angevin method as -derived from the Aquitainian dome. Here we find indications that, -if the builders of the Church of Laon had fully assimilated this -method, their minds were nevertheless not altogether at rest as to -the functions of the flying buttress. This was, of course, essential -to the piers which received the united thrust of both transverse -and diagonal arches. But it was far from logical to reinforce the -intermediate piers supporting nothing but the auxiliary transverse -arches by abutments identical with those of the main piers. - -The illogicality so striking at Laon is absent from Noyon. There, -on the contrary, the architects--of the original construction--had -emphasised the functions of the main piers by buttresses of greater -projection and solidity than those accorded to the secondary piers. - - [Illustration: 35. CATHEDRAL OF LAON. THE EAST END] - - [Illustration: 36. CATHEDRAL OF LAON. SECTION OF THE NAVE] - -Notre Dame de Paris was begun towards the close of the twelfth -century, and finished, save for the chapels, in the first half of -the thirteenth. As at Laon, the Norman tradition is observed in the -arrangement of the upper galleries of the side aisles, while the -influence of the dome is again to be traced in the sex-partite -groining. The same illogical system of abutments obtains as at Laon. - -This vast building, consisting of a nave and double side aisles of -equal height sweeping round the semi-circular choir, seems to be one -of the first five-aisled cathedrals; its grandiose arrangement, the -boldness of its combinations, and the perfection of its detail mark -the considerable progress made by the architects of the Ile-de-France. - - [Illustration: 37. NOTRE DAME DE PARIS. PLAN] - -The method of construction here adopted has a peculiar significance. -The upper internal galleries, vaulted on diagonal arches, and raised -considerably above the level of the second side aisle, the boldness of -the flying buttress, which at one span embraces the two side aisles -and forms the abutments of the main vault--alike prove that the -architects of Notre Dame de Paris had adopted the newly discovered -systems even to excess, and were applying them with unparalleled skill -and ingenuity. - - [Illustration: 38. NOTRE DAME DE PARIS. SECTION OF THE NAVE] - -The Norman tradition which had obtained in the Ile-de-France -passed away in the first years of the thirteenth century. At -Châlons-sur-Marne the nave is flanked by two-storied side aisles. But -the upper gallery, vaulted and greatly reduced in size, shows that the -conventional arrangement was fast dying out. - -The influence of the dome was longer lived, as is shown in the -construction of vaults at this period. We may still trace it at -Langres in the domed form of the vaults, which, in spite of their -rectangular plan, seem to be a reduced copy of the Angevin naves. - - [Illustration: 39. NOTRE DAME DE PARIS. FLYING BUTTRESSES AND SOUTH - TOWER] - -The naves of Sens and of Bourges are also vaulted in square -compartments. The thrust of the vaults is carried by the diagonal -arches to each alternate pier, the intermediate one receiving only the -auxiliary transverse arch already fully described. Yet here again the -exterior flying buttresses are all of equal solidity in spite of the -varying strain. This arrangement, prudent if illogical, shows once -more with what distrust architects had adopted that system of exterior -abutment, the characteristic of which is a detached arch exposed to -all the vicissitudes of weather, and yet responsible for the stability -of the whole edifice. - -The Cathedral of Sens marks a new phase of development by its -suppression of the upper gallery over the side aisles. These are now -vaulted and covered by a lean-to roof; a flying buttress of single -span receives the thrust of the main vault. The building is perfectly -solid; its construction shows research, though it is as illogical as -that of Laon or of Paris; for the exterior flying buttresses are all -of equal strength, and so fail to proclaim their true functions, the -interior thrusts varying considerably. - - [Illustration: 40. SENS CATHEDRAL. PLAN OF A BAY. VAULT IN SQUARE - COMPARTMENTS OF TWO BAYS] - - [Illustration: 41. SENS CATHEDRAL. SECTION OF A BAY OF THE NAVE] - - [Illustration: 42. SENS CATHEDRAL. INTERIOR VIEW OF LATERAL BAYS] - -The arrangement at Bourges, which appears to have been mainly built, -if not actually finished, in the first half of the thirteenth -century, differs from that of Sens. The structure is one of five -aisles, and in plan recalls Notre Dame de Paris, but the details are -very dissimilar. The inner side aisles no longer support a gallery, -nor are they of equal height with the outer aisles; they are raised -so as to afford space for lighting (see Fig. 43). The main vault is -sex-partite planned on squares; but the same illogicality exists -here which we have already pointed out, and in connection with which -we will risk appearing somewhat insistent, in the hope of directing -special attention to it. It is more glaring here than elsewhere, the -flying buttresses themselves being of exaggerated dimensions and of -double span, embracing the two side aisles. - - [Illustration: 43. BOURGES CATHEDRAL. SECTION OF THE NAVE] - -Both at Bourges and Sens the space between the summit of the -archivolts and the bases of the upper windows, known as the frieze, -or, in modern parlance, the triforium, becomes a purely decorative -feature. It consists of a narrow arcaded corridor, occupying in the -interior of the building that portion of the wall space which in the -exterior has been appropriated by the lean-to roof of the side aisles. -At Sens there is merely a single gallery; at Bourges it becomes -double, through the stepped arrangement of the side aisles (see Fig. -43), a variation in which we may trace an ingenious blending of the -systems of Anjou and Poitiers with those of the Ile-de-France. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - THE CATHEDRALS OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY - - -The Cathedral of Rheims, which was begun soon after the destruction of -the original building by the fire of 1211, is a supreme expression of -the fusion of the three systems--those of Aquitaine, of Anjou, and of -the Ile-de-France. It may be taken as the most perfect manifestation -of persistent efforts to establish a method of construction based on -equilibrium--the equilibrium, that is to say, of a building vaulted -on intersecting arches, the thrusts of which are received by exterior -flying buttresses. - -The temerity, and even the dangers of such a system, are sufficiently -demonstrated in the wonderful works of the thirteenth-century -architects themselves. For, notwithstanding the skill and beauty of -their many admirable combinations, they were unable to reduce their -methods to scientific formulæ. The statical power of their structures -remained an uncertain quantity, determined by the durability of the -material and its exposure or non-exposure to the weather, the interior -skeleton being formed of the same material as the exterior. - - [Illustration: 44. RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. PLAN] - -The perils inherent in such a system are more apparent at Rheims than -elsewhere, because of the colossal proportions of the building. The -arrangement of the flying buttresses, however, is more logical than -at Laon, Paris, Sens, and Bourges, by reason of the quadripartite -arrangement of the main vault. The thrusts being equally distributed -among the supporting piers, each flying buttress performs an identical -office; their equal strength and solidity is therefore perfectly -appropriate and logical. But though theoretically correct in its -disposition of flying buttresses of equal strength to meet thrusts of -equal strength, the method is vitiated by its inherent weakness as a -system of abutment. The fragility of the flying buttress exposed it -to two grave dangers, active and passive; active, taking into account -the constant strain upon it as an abutment; passive, in regard to the -gradual reduction of its solidity by exposure to weather. In support -of this statement, it is only necessary to refer to the restorations -which it has been found necessary to make within the last few years, -to preserve the nave. The flying buttresses have been strengthened -from below, a proceeding without which the collapse of the huge -building would have been inevitable. - -But we shall find much to call for unqualified admiration at Rheims in -the grandiose conception of the work and in its powerful execution, in -the magnificent arrangement of its eastern façade, and in the perfect -harmony of the ornamentation, where sculpture, capitals, friezes, -crockets, and floriations are so many types of mediæval decorative art -at its best. - -The Cathedral of Amiens, which dates from about 1220, and is one of -the largest as well as one of the most admired of Gothic masterpieces, -is directly founded upon that of Rheims. The plan is on the same -lines, with this exception, that at Amiens the choir is of greater -importance relatively to the nave, and that the piers and points of -support are weaker and much more lofty. - - [Illustration: 45. RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. SECTION OF THE NAVE] - - [Illustration: 46. RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. FLYING BUTTRESSES OF THE CHOIR] - -The Rémois architects, while exercised by the problems of equilibrium -which their system involved, sought to minimise its dangers, which -they recognised no less fully than their predecessors, by prudently -avoiding all false bearings. It will be easily seen by a comparison -of the two sections (Figs. 45 and 48) that the builders of Amiens -were troubled by no such misgivings, or that they were at least more -venturesome if not more accomplished. They did not hesitate to base -the columns which received the crowns of the flying buttresses on a -corbel arrangement which had no solid bearing, as may be seen by -following the direction of the dotted line X in Fig. 48. The boldness, -or rather the imprudence of such an arrangement is patent, for the -failure of anyone of the courses, or the decay of any part of the pier -into which the corbels are keyed, would necessarily involve a rupture -in the flying buttresses, on which the stability of the main vault -depends. The disintegration of the whole building and its total ruin -could be the only result. The perils of such combinations, or rather -such _tours de force_ of equilibrium, are exemplified at Beauvais. -The architects who built the choir, about the year 1225, basing it on -that of Amiens, determined to raise a monument which should surpass, -both in plan and elevation, all the structures of their epoch. They -increased the breadth of the choir and of its bays, raising, in the -latter, intermediate piers on the crowns of the lower archivolts, thus -dividing the upper bays, and at the same time strengthening the vault -by auxiliary transverse arches. They exaggerated the height of the -archivolts and of the large windows, and diminished their thickness, -in order to give greater elegance and lightness, and the main vault -rose to a height of more than 160 feet above the ground level. This -tremendous elevation, the exaggeration of which in proportion to the -width of the nave is striking, necessitated a complicated system of -flying buttresses surpassing in boldness all that had gone before. -The section in Fig. 51 will give some idea of what has been justly -described as an architectural folly. It is astonishing that the -structure should have stood as it has done, taking into account the -false bearings of the intermediate piers, here again shown by the -dotted line X (Fig. 51). - - [Illustration: 47. AMIENS CATHEDRAL. PLAN] - - [Illustration: 48. AMIENS CATHEDRAL. SECTION THROUGH THE NAVE] - -These rest for half of their thickness on off-sets from the piers, -which, proving unequal to the strain, have been temporarily stayed, -and must eventually be consolidated. - -The choir, however, was finished about 1270, and stood for several -years. But dislocations then declared themselves. The forces so -elaborately balanced lost their equilibrium, and on the 29th November -1284 the vault fell, dragging down with it the flying buttresses, and -carrying havoc through the rest of the building. In the reconstruction -which followed it was thought imperative to double the points of -support in the arcades both of the main and side aisles, and to -reinforce the flying buttresses by iron chains. - - [Illustration: 51. BEAUVAIS CATHEDRAL. TRANSVERSE SECTION] - -During the thirteenth century a number of cathedrals were raised all -over Europe on the model of the great buildings of Northern France, -and more especially of Amiens, which seems to have roused a great -enthusiasm; these were, however, of far more modest dimensions. They -had neither the exaggerated height nor the structural audacities -of their exemplars. Few of these churches and cathedrals, the -reconstruction of which on the new system generally began with the -choir, which was added to the primitive nave, were completed by -those who initiated their erection. The most highly favoured in this -respect were finished in the course of the fourteenth century; but in -the greater number of cases the work dragged slowly on, and reached -its end some two centuries after its inauguration. Reconstructive -undertakings were constantly impeded by wars or social convulsions, -which either hampered or entirely cut off the resources of bishops and -architects, their promoters. Such interruptions were of great service -to modern archæological study, offering as they do distinct evidence -of the various transformations which were successively accomplished -from the so-called Romanesque period to the Gothic. - - [Illustration: 49. BEAUVAIS CATHEDRAL. APSE] - - [Illustration: 50. BEAUVAIS CATHEDRAL. NORTH FRONT] - - [Illustration: 51. BEAUVAIS CATHEDRAL. TRANSVERSE SECTION] - - [Illustration: 52. CHARTRES CATHEDRAL. ROSE WINDOW OF NORTH TRANSEPT] - -The majority of these great buildings, which show traces of the -vicissitudes through which they passed, bear a strong likeness to -each other, and vary only in detail, according to the skill of their -constructors. - -The peculiar interest of Chartres centres in its remarkable statuary; -it has, however, other features which command attention, such as -the rose window of the north, transept and the design of the flying -buttresses. These consist of three arches, one above the other, the -two lower ones being connected by colonnettes, radiating from a -centre, so that the lower arch is related to the upper, as the nave of -a wheel is to the felloes, the colonnettes forming the spokes. - -At Mans the arrangement of the choir is so far more remarkable in that -it is extremely unusual, or indeed, in its way unique. The flying -buttresses are planned in the form of a Y (see A on the plan Fig. 53), -thus affording space for windows in the exterior wall, to light the -vast circular ambulatory, which at Mans is of unusual importance, and -surrounds the choir with a double aisle. The flying buttresses which -rise above the _arcs-doubleaux_, bi-furcated (B on the plan), are -over-attenuated in section; their exaggerated height and proportionate -slenderness threaten to make them spring, so that it has been found -necessary to bind them together by ties and iron chains. Such -expedients are a sufficient criticism of the ingenious but precarious -system adopted by the architects of Mans. - - [Illustration: 53. MANS CATHEDRAL. PLAN] - - [Illustration: 54. MANS CATHEDRAL. FLYING BUTTRESSES OF THE APSE] - - [Illustration: 55. MANS CATHEDRAL. SECTION OF THE CHOIR] - -The influence of the Ile-de-France in Normandy is manifest in the -arrangement of choirs and apsidal chapels in Norman cathedrals of -the thirteenth century. The Cathedral of Coutances, a monument -of the eleventh century, was rebuilt in the early years of the -thirteenth century under the impulse given by Northern France to the -architecture of the period. It is in the choir that we clearly trace -this influence, in the double columns of the apse, and the ingenious -disposition of its collateral vaults. But the façade is purely Norman, -not merely in general design, but in the details of the composition, -facsimiles of which may be found in England. - - [Illustration: 56. COUTANCES CATHEDRAL. NORTH TOWER] - -The Cathedral of Dol in Brittany, one of the great churches of the -thirteenth century, seems to have escaped the influences of the -Northern innovation. Its general plan, its square apse lighted by -large windows, the details of its architecture and ornamentation, -all proclaim its affinity to the great churches which rose -contemporaneously with it on either side of the Channel, in Normandy, -and in England. It is very probable that it was built by the same -architects or their immediate disciples, working on the more ancient -methods of the Norman schools founded by Lanfranc at Canterbury -towards the close of the eleventh century, on the model of those he -had established in France at the famous Abbaye du Bec. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES OF THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES - - -The Cathedrals of Rheims, Amiens, and Beauvais excited extraordinary -enthusiasm in their time, not only in the provinces of France, but -among neighbouring nations, notably in England, Belgium, Germany, -Sweden, Spain, and Italy. - -This enthusiasm was less fervid in the provinces farthest from -the royal domain; but even in these outlying districts several -remarkable buildings rose in the first half of the thirteenth century, -constructed on the new lines. - -In 1233 the Cathedral of Bazas was begun, and, unlike the majority of -such undertakings, was carried through and finished in a comparatively -short time. - - [Illustration: 57. RODEZ CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT] - - [Illustration: 58. BORDEAUX CATHEDRAL. CHOIR AND NORTH FRONT] - - [Illustration: 59. LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT] - -The Cathedral of Bayonne, a contemporary building, shared the fate -of Meaux, Troyes, and Auxerre. It was completed, with one tower -only, in the sixteenth century. In 1248 the foundations of Clermont -Cathedral were laid. The plan provided for six or seven towers, but -the choir was the only portion finished in the thirteenth century. The -transept and four towers, together with a portion of the nave, were -completed in the following century, and the work was then abandoned -until the reign of Napoleon III., who caused it to be again taken -up. The Cathedral of Limoges was begun in 1273, under the direct -inspiration of Notre Dame at Amiens. Down to our own times it has had -to content itself with a choir, a transept, and the suggestions of a -nave, the last of which has lately been completed. At Rodez a greater -perseverance was shown, and the work went steadily on from 1277 until -the Renascence, at which period, however, the two western towers were -left unfinished, notwithstanding a contemporary description of their -magnificence, which, in a truly Gascon vein, compares them to the -Egyptian pyramids, among other world-renowned marvels. - -"In 1272 Toulouse and Narbonne entered the lists against Amiens, -imitating its plan, and proposing to at least equal it in dimensions. -Neither of these undertakings proved happy. Archbishop Maurice of -Narbonne died the same year the works were begun; his successors took -but a lukewarm interest in their progress. In 1320 the sea retreated, -leaving the port on which the wealth of the inhabitants mainly -depended high and dry. Fortunately the choir with its noble vault 130 -feet high was already completed, but the transept walls were left to -fall into ruins. At Toulouse Bishop Bertrand de l'Isle-Jourdain lived -just long enough to carry the work above the triforium of the choir; -it was then abandoned till the fifteenth century. His successors -squandered the revenues of their vast diocese so shamelessly in -pleasures and display that Popes Boniface VIII. and John XXII., -scandalised at their disorders, dismembered their territory and -subdivided it into four bishoprics, granting to the Bishop of Toulouse -the title of archbishop by way of compensation. But this compensation -was of small avail to future zealous prelates for the carrying out of -Bertrand's projects, and the choir of Toulouse was never finished. -It falls short of its predestined height of 130 feet by 90, and the -transept was not even begun. - -"The Cathedrals of Lyons, of St. Maurice at Vienne, and of St. -Étienne at Toul have affinities more or less direct with the great -architectural movement. At Bordeaux the building of a great cathedral -was contemplated at the time of the English occupation; but the choir -would never have been finished but for the liberality of King Edward -I. and of Pope Clement V., who had formerly been archbishop of the -town."[11] - -[11] Anthyme St. Paul, _Histoire Monumentale de la France_; Paris -Hachette and Co., 1884. - -The great cathedrals constructed in England in the thirteenth century -bear witness to the expansion of French art on the lines already laid -down in the preceding century by the teaching and achievements of the -Norman monkish architects who had followed William the Conqueror to -Great Britain.[12] - -[12] This is a very summary way of dismissing the vexed question of -French influence upon English architecture. The undeniable fact that -wherever a French architect can be identified as the author of an -English building--William of Sens at Canterbury, for instance--the -work he did differs entirely in character from contemporary English -work is enough to refute much of the claim made for France. The -principles of Gothic architecture were the common property of the two -countries, and by each were developed according to their lights.--ED. - -English builders assimilated the constructive principles of the -architects of Anjou and of the Ile-de-France. In the numerous -cathedrals they raised from the thirteenth to the close of the -fifteenth century it is easy to trace the original characteristics of -French art throughout all the transformations or adaptations by which -its methods were modified in accordance with British usages and ideas. - -This influence is very apparent in the Cathedrals of York, Ely, -Wells, Salisbury, and Canterbury, the last of which was constructed -from the plans of an architect or master-mason, known as William of -Sens; in that of Lichfield, where the spires of the façade recall -those of Coutances in Normandy, and above all, at Lincoln, one of -the most beautiful of English cathedrals. Here we have perhaps the -most strongly-marked instance of the steady and continuous filiation -between the buildings of France and England during the so-called -Gothic period. It is quite possible that they were the work of the -same architects, as they certainly were carried out by pupils or -disciples of the same master-builders.[13] - -[13] It is difficult to believe that Mons. Corroyer is in earnest -in comparing the spires of Lichfield to those of Coutances, or the -central tower of Lincoln to that of the same French cathedral. Mons. -Corroyer appears to be unacquainted with the line of filiation between -English spires and towers, and so looks, as a matter of course, for a -French mother to such as strike his fancy.--ED. - -Lincoln Cathedral, founded in the eleventh century, and finished in -1092, shared the fate of so many other timber-roofed buildings of -the period. The greater part of it was destroyed by fire in 1124. -It was rebuilt and enlarged by St. Hugh in accordance with the new -ideas he had brought with him from France, a very natural consequence -of his supervision, when we take into account that as mandatory of -Pope Gregory VII. he had been Bishop of Grenoble. The church was -again partly destroyed by an earthquake in 1185. It was then rebuilt, -enlarged, and completed by Bishop Grossetête, an Englishman by birth, -who had, however, been educated and brought up in France in the early -part of the thirteenth century, and had carried over with him to his -native land the essence of the grand and noble inspirations which -marked that marvellous era. - - [Illustration: 60. LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. PLAN] - - [Illustration: 61. LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT] - -The lantern-tower at the intersection of the western transept, -which had fallen in 1235, was either rebuilt or finished by Bishop -Grossetête about 1240. In its general outline and in detail it recalls -the great lantern-tower of Coutances in Normandy, which seems also to -have served as model for that of St. Ouen at Rouen in the fourteenth -century. - -The vast and magnificent Cathedral of Lincoln is an admirable subject -for comparative study. Its architecture combines most strikingly the -characteristics of the two nations. It blends in one harmonious whole -the massive solidity of English structure overlaid with detail, formed -by lines vertical, rigid, dry, and hard as iron, and the mingled -grace and strength of French architecture, which may fitly be compared -with gold, in its union of the supple and the durable, of solidity -and power of resistance equal to those of the less precious metal, -with an adaptability to artistic ends far greater. - - [Illustration: 62. LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. TRANSEPT] - - [Illustration: 63. LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. APSE AND CHAPTER-HOUSE] - -In the façade and the west towers English characteristics predominate, -but the choir and the apse are French in composition, and most -probably in execution, as is also the presbytery, in which both the -arrangement and the details of the bays recall those of the lateral -façades of Bourges.[14] All three are veritable masterpieces, worthy -of the most brilliant period of French mediæval architecture. - -[14] Here Mons. Corroyer directly traverses the opinion of -Viollet-le-duc, who could see no ground whatever for ascribing a -French origin to the choir of Lincoln. Indeed, the conception of that -choir, and nearly all its details, are not only unlike, they are -opposed to those of French contemporary examples. Here are the words -of the great French architect: "After the most careful examination I -cannot find, in any part of the Cathedral of Lincoln, neither in the -general design, nor in any part of the system of architecture adopted, -nor in the details of ornament, any trace of the French school of -the twelfth century (the lay school, from 1170 to 1220), so plainly -characteristic of the Cathedrals of Paris, Noyon, Senlis, Chartres, -Sens, and even Rouen.... The construction is English, the profiles of -the mouldings are English, the ornaments are English, the execution of -the work belongs to the English school of workmen of the beginning of -the thirteenth century."--_Gentleman's Magazine_ for May 1861--Letter -to "Sylvanus Urban." The date of Lincoln choir is known. It belongs to -the last years of the twelfth century, and so anticipates such French -work as can show analogies with it, Le Mans, for instance, where the -work in question dates from 1210-1220.--ED. - -In Belgium French influence manifested itself so early as the first -half of the thirteenth century in the building of the remarkable -Church of Ste. Gudule at Brussels. Up to this period the methods -of the Rhenish schools had obtained in the Low Countries, and the -setting aside of these methods in favour of the new system of France -is significant of the high repute of the latter throughout Western -Europe. Further evidence to this effect is to be found in the great -churches of Ghent, Tongres, Louvain, and Bruges among others, which -were either built between 1235 and 1300, or at any rate begun during -this period, to be completed in the fourteenth century and even later. - - [Illustration: 64. BRUSSELS CATHEDRAL (STE. GUDULE). WEST FRONT] - -Ste. Gudule at Brussels was begun about 1226; but only the choir -and the transept were finished by 1275. The nave was built in the -fourteenth century, together with the towers of the west front, which, -however, were not finally completed till the following century, or -perhaps the sixteenth. Several chapels, the windows of which are -filled with magnificent painted glass, date from the same period as -these towers. - -French influence is no less patent at Cologne, which is undoubtedly -the daughter of Amiens. The opinion of a German writer is of special -interest on this point. - - [Illustration: 65. COLOGNE CATHEDRAL. SOUTH FRONT] - -"The famous Cathedral of Cologne, one of the masterpieces of the -German School, is a direct emanation from French tradition. The choir -is a replica of that of Amiens; it was dedicated in 1322, after which -the work of nave and transepts was carried on continuously; the nave -measures 43 feet in width, and 140 in height; the total length of -the church is 503 feet. The two towers of the west front have been -completed in our own times--from the original designs, it is said. -The general effect, whether of interior or exterior, is certainly not -equal to that of the finest French cathedrals, but the style is rich -and pure, and touches perfection in the treatment of details."[15] - -[15] W. Lübke, _Essai d'Histoire de l'Art_. - -In Scandinavian countries French art, which had already manifested -itself at Ripen in Jutland during the so-called Romanesque period, -gives us a fresh instance of its expansive power in an important -Swedish building which dates from the end of the thirteenth century. -The Cathedral of Upsala has this peculiarity, that it was designed and -even begun by a French architect, one Estienne de Bonneuil, who, on -30th August 1287, received the royal authority to betake himself to -Upsala to construct the cathedral.[16] - -[16] Charles Lucas, _Les Architectes français à l'Étranger_ (from the -journal, _L'Architecture_). - -In Spain the chief monuments of thirteenth-century Gothic architecture -which betray the influence of France are the great five-aisled Church -of Toledo, the cathedral at Badajoz, and the front of St. Mark's -at Seville. French influence again is manifest in the cathedrals -of Léon, of Palencia, of Oviedo, of Pampeluna, of Valencia, and of -Barcelona, founded at the end of the thirteenth century and continued -in the fourteenth, as well as in the churches of Torquemado, Bilbao, -Bellaguer, Monresa, and Guadalupe, all dating partly from the -fourteenth century. - -The Cathedral of Burgos, begun in the first half of the thirteenth -century, shows a striking analogy with French buildings of about the -same period in the plan and construction of its flying buttresses -and windows as well as in the decorative sculpture of its portals. -The lower stories of the west front seem to date from the fourteenth -century, but the openwork spires which crown it were not finished -until the fifteenth. In this curious building we find elements taken -from France, mingled with decorative passages of pure Italian, and -with others characteristically Spanish in their use of motives only to -be explained by the vitality of the Saracenic traditions. - - [Illustration: 66. BURGOS CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT] - -Innumerable churches were built in Italy during the so-called Gothic -period, principally towards its conclusion. Not to speak of the -famous Cathedrals of Milan and Florence, nor of S. Anthony, nor of -the Cathedral of Padua, the Cathedrals of Siena and Orvieto seem -especially to lean away from antique and Lombard traditions towards -those of France, a characteristic especially notable in the decorative -details of their west fronts, which recall in many ways the work of -French architects during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. - - [Illustration: 67. CATHEDRAL OR DUOMO OF SIENA. WEST FRONT] - - [Illustration: 68. CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS AT ASSISI. APSE AND CLOISTERS] - -It is the opinion of some archæologists that the true parent of -the Cathedrals of Siena and Orvieto was the Church of St. Francis -at Assisi, which is not far distant. Now St. Francis of Assisi is -undeniably French in origin. This church, which was founded in 1228 -to receive the remains of St. Francis who died in 1226, was possibly -completed as to the lower structure in the thirteenth century; but it -is improbable, to say the least, that this completion should have been -the work of a German, for at this period Gothic architecture was still -in embryo in Germany, while in France it had reached its most glorious -development. The upper church seems to be later in date by a century; -we may clearly trace its affinities with French art in the system of -construction, which has all the characteristics peculiar to that which -prevailed in the south of France at the close of the thirteenth and -the beginning of the fourteenth century. Of this system the Church -of Albi is the most finished type.[17] Assisi, in its single aisle, -in its buttresses, both as to their interior projections and their -exterior half-turreted forms, shows a complete analogy with the French -Albigeois church. - -[17] See chap. ix. "Albi," etc. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - CHURCHES OF THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES IN FRANCE AND IN - THE EAST - - -"The thirteenth century was so prolific in religious architecture as -to leave little scope to those which followed. But even had the growth -of great religious monuments been less rapid at this period, the wars -which convulsed France in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries would -have paralysed such undertakings as the building of great cathedral -churches. The religious buildings actually completed in the fourteenth -century are rare; still rarer are those which date from the fifteenth. -In those stormy days enterprise was confined to the completion of -unfinished churches, and the modification, restoration, or enlargement -of twelfth and thirteenth century buildings. It was not until the -close of the fifteenth and opening of the sixteenth century, when -France was beginning to recover its former power, that a fresh impulse -was given to religious architecture; even then, however, the Gothic -tradition persisted, though in a corrupt and bastard form. Many of the -great cathedrals were finished, and a number of small churches, which -had been destroyed during the wars, or had fallen into decay through -long neglect, consequent on the poverty of the community, were either -rebuilt or restored. The movement was, however, presently arrested -by the Reformation, when war, fire, and pillage again destroyed or -mutilated most of the newly completed religious buildings. The havoc -wrought by this last upheaval was in its nature irrevocable, for when -order once more reigned at the close of the sixteenth century, the -Renascence had swept away the last traces of the national art; and -though superficially the system of construction which prevailed in -French churches of the thirteenth century still obtained, the genius -which had presided at their construction was extinct and its memory -despised."[18] - -[18] Viollet-le-Duc, _Dictionnaire raisonné de l'Architecture -française_, etc., vol. i. - - [Illustration: 69. CHURCH OF ST. OUEN AT ROUEN. CENTRAL TOWER AND - APSE, SOUTH FRONT] - -The Church of St. Ouen at Rouen, except for the west front and its -towers, which are modern, is a typical example of the rare religious -buildings constructed in the north of France during the fourteenth -century. The arrangement of these churches varies, inasmuch as, -while in general they follow the methods of construction adopted by -the Northern architects of the thirteenth century, their special -characteristic is a refinement or rather an attenuation of the piers, -less by actual reduction of their section than by a diminution of -their apparent bulk. This was effected by multiplying the clustered -shafts, the slenderness of which was still further exaggerated by -the prodigality of the mouldings, and the over-hollowness of their -profiles. These profiles and mouldings rise from the base to the -summit, and in the fourteenth century mark the spring of the arches -by rings of sculpture, crowned with rudimentary abaci. These latter -details were the last traces of a tradition which was to finally -disappear in the fifteenth century. Thenceforward the lines of -the intersecting arches of the vault, as of the longitudinal and -transverse arches, run down without interruption to the base of the -piers, where we find a complex faggot of mouldings crossing and -recrossing, and showing little beyond the technical dexterity of the -carver. - -The main preoccupation of the architects of this period seems to -have been the reduction of solid surfaces so as to give full play -to the soaring effect of their airy shafts and vaults. The walls -disappear, save below the windows, which now occupy the entire space -of each bay. The triangular divisions of the vault are concealed by -a serried network of supplementary ribs, for the most part useless -save as decorations. But it must in justice be remembered that to this -exaggeration of the window spaces we owe the growth of the beautiful -art of painting on glass. This art, the admirable fitness of which -for decorative purposes can hardly be over-estimated, had already -manifested itself in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In the -interval from that period to the Renascence it produced its grandest -masterpieces.[19] - -[19] See chap. xii. "Decorative Painting on Walls and Glass." - -It must be borne in mind that the great constructive and -reconstructive movement which had manifested itself throughout Western -Europe, and notably in the north of France, by great buildings, the -distinguishing characteristics of which are vaulted roofs and flying -buttresses, had made little progress in Southern France. The few -exceptions of importance are--Bazas, Bayonne, Auch, Toulouse, and -Narbonne. The Southern architects, as we have already stated, adhered -to the ancient tradition, whether influenced by impulses of reaction, -resistance, or defiance. Their conservatism is comprehensible -enough in view of the strong Gallo-Roman tendencies which governed -architectural activity throughout the district. The builders of the -thirteenth and fourteenth centuries did indeed accept the Angevin -intersecting arch, an invention the admirable simplicity of which was -its own recommendation. But this concession was without prejudice to -their broad principles. In the general arrangement of their religious -buildings they still adhered to Roman usage, and to such models -as the Basilica of Constantine and the tepidarium of the Baths of -Caracalla.[20] - -[20] _L'Architecture Romane_, by Ed. Corroyer; Paris, Maison Quantin, -chaps. iii. and vii. - -Towards the close of the thirteenth, and throughout the fourteenth -century, a large number of churches were built in the South, -consisting of a single wide and lofty aisle, vaulted on intersecting -arches, the thrusts of which were received by buttresses of great bulk -and prominence in the interior of the building, but very slightly -indicated on the exterior. The spaces between the massive interior -buttresses, on either side of the aisle, were occupied by a series of -chapels, supporting disconnected tribunes or a continuous corridor. -The two great churches of the Cordeliers and of the Jacobins at -Toulouse were built in the brick of the country in the second half -of the thirteenth century. These have two aisles, according to the -Dominican usage of the period, but the exterior arrangement is the -same as in the one-aisled churches. The Churches of St. Bertrand -at Comminges, and those of Lodève, Perpignan, Condom, Carcassonne, -Gaillac, Montpezat, Moissac, etc., were built in the fourteenth and -fifteenth centuries on the single-aisled plan. That of Perpignan has -this peculiarity; its vaults, though supported on intersecting arches, -are built in accordance with Roman methods, which further prevail -both in the forms of the terra-cotta materials, and in the manner of -their application. The reins of the vault, which measures some 53 feet -across, are ornamented by terra-cotta jars embedded in an admirably -prepared lime mortar of great durability. The actual roof lies without -the support of any intervening structure of timber upon the extrados -of the vault. This consists of voussoirs of Roman brick, retained -by a layer of terra-cotta upon which the tiles, also of the antique -Roman form, are laid. This arrangement protects the vault from any -infiltration of water due to the rupture of the tiles, an absolutely -necessary precaution, if the former was to retain its stability. - - [Illustration: 70. ALBI CATHEDRAL. PLAN] - - [Illustration: 71. ALBI CATHEDRAL. SECTION OF THE NAVE] - -The Cathedral of Ste. Cécile at Albi is a monumental type of the -single-aisled system. It is one of the largest and most important of -Southern buildings constructed on the traditional principles of the -ancient Romans. The vast single aisle, some 60 feet wide, is built -entirely of brick, with the exception of the window tracery, the choir -screen, and the south porch. Here we may study constructive principles -no less simple than sagacious, combining all the necessary conditions -of stability. The points of support and abutments of the vault on -intersecting arches are all enclosed by the outer wall; they are thus -protected from the accidents of climate, and their durability is -almost indefinitely assured. - - [Illustration: 72. ALBI CATHEDRAL. APSE] - - [Illustration: 73. ALBI CATHEDRAL. DONJON TOWER AND SOUTH FRONT] - -The foundations of the cathedral, which was dedicated to St. Cecilia, -were laid in 1282, on the ruins of the ancient Church of Ste. Croix. -The main building was finished towards the close of the fourteenth -century, and the whole as it now stands was completed in the last -years of the fifteenth and early part of the sixteenth century, by -the addition of the baldacchino of the southern porch, or principal -entrance, of the stone rood loft, and choir screen, the stalls -of carved wood, and the fresco decorations which adorn the whole -building. This varied workmanship renders Albi one of the most -instructive of studies in connection with French decorative art, -the successive developments being marked by monumental examples of -the highest order, inspired or created by divers influences. The -architecture is of the Southern French type, as far as the main -building is concerned; in essentials, the same type prevails in the -magnificent porch known as the _baldaquin_, in the choir screen, -and in the rood loft; but in these later additions the inspiration -of Northern art at the close of the fifteenth and beginning of the -sixteenth century is also perceptible. The statuary and sculptured -ornaments of wood and stone are Flemish; the paintings indicate their -Italian origin by their crudity of colour and vulgarity of motive. - -The Cathedral of Albi has a special interest as being one of the most -curious examples of Southern Gothic architecture in the fourteenth -century. It has a further peculiarity, inasmuch as it was not only a -church, as it still is, but a fortress. Such a combination is readily -accounted for by a study of the epoch following on the fierce struggle -which ended in the extermination of the Albigenses, and of the social -and political events resulting therefrom. - -The interior is purely ecclesiastical, of the most beautiful type of -its time; the grandeur of its dimensions, its structural perfection, -and the magnificence of its decoration, are unsurpassed in their way. - -The exterior is that of a fortress. Its intention is proclaimed by the -buttresses rising from the glacis of the base to form, as it were, -flanking towers; by the arrangement of the bays, or rather curtains, -crowned by an embattled machicolated parapet, which unite these -towers, and by the grandiose military character of the architecture. -The formidable aspect of the building is much enhanced by the western -tower, in effect a donjon keep, completing the system of defence by -its connection with the fortifications of the archbishop's palace, -which in their turn are carried on to ramparts, crowning the -escarpments which, to the north, rise from the Tarn.[21] - -[21] See "Civil Architecture," Part IV. chap. ii. - -A few fortified churches still exist--such, for example, as Les Stes. -Maries (Bouches du Rhone), which dates from the thirteenth century. -Albi was not a solitary instance of this usage. The Churches of -Béziers, Narbonne, and many others of the thirteenth and fourteenth -century had been surrounded by defensive outworks rendered necessary -by religious strife. The buildings thus transformed into strongholds -served the further purpose of sheltering fugitive populations in times -of panic. - -One of the most interesting of such examples is the Church of -Esnandes, not far from Rochelle, on the creek of Aiguillon, a building -which dates from the twelfth century. It was fortified at the -beginning of the fifteenth century to resist the incursions of the -English. - - [Illustration: 74. CHURCH OF ESNANDES (CHARENTE INFÉRIEURE). A - FORTIFIED CHURCH OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY] - -As we have already remarked on the authority of a learned writer, -the buildings of the fifteenth century are less numerous than those -of the fourteenth. Those concerned in such undertakings were content -to finish churches begun at an earlier period, or to attempt their -reconstruction, frequently on plans which it was impossible to carry -out, so that many buildings were left incomplete. We may instance a -very famous monument, the Abbey of Mont St. Michel. The Romanesque -choir fell into ruins in 1421, during the Hundred Years' War. In 1452 -Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville undertook the reconstruction of the -church on a scale so considerable that the choir only was completed -during the first years of the sixteenth century.[22] This part of -the church shows the effect of the decadence of which there had been -indications so early as the close of the thirteenth century. Certain -of the arrangements are very ingenious, notably that of the triforium, -which rests on the reins of the lower vault, and forms, as seen from -outside, a series of small apses standing out from the main wall. But -the mason's work is negligent, especially in the flying buttresses, -which were so carefully treated by the architects of the thirteenth -century. The lines are attenuated by a multiplicity of mouldings to an -almost threadlike slenderness; the spring of the arches is undefined -by capitals, and the complicated network of the fenestration adds to -the wire-drawn effect, and further diminishes the proportions of the -building. There is little to admire but the extreme manual dexterity -of the carvers. The carving of the granite, the only stone used at -Mont St. Michel[23] save for the arcadings of the cloister, is very -remarkable, as is also the ornamental sculpture; this is executed -with extreme skill, in spite of the excess of detail with which it is -loaded. - -[22] _Description de l'Abbaye du Mont St. Michel et des ses Abords_, -by Ed. Corroyer; Paris, 1877. - -[23] See Part II., "Monastic Architecture." - - [Illustration: 75. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. FLYING BUTTRESSES OF THE - CHOIR (LATE FIFTEENTH CENTURY). FROM A DRAWING BY THE AUTHOR] - - [Illustration: 76. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. PLAN OF THE CHOIR ABOVE - THE LOWER CHAPEL] - - [Illustration: 77. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. DETAILS OF THE APSE - (LATE FIFTEENTH CENTURY)] - -The decadence of Gothic architecture was manifest even at the close of -the thirteenth century in such _tours de force_ as the choir of St. -Peter at Beauvais, and the Church of St. Urbain at Troyes. During the -fourteenth and fifteenth centuries buildings or parts of buildings -were constructed with remarkable skill, but the noble simplicity which -was the strength of thirteenth-century architecture was no more. By -the close of the fifteenth century a studied mannerism had taken -its place. The western doorway of Alençon Cathedral is a typical -example of this development, the defects of which were still further -accentuated in the following century. - - [Illustration: 78. ALENÇON CATHEDRAL. WEST FRONT (FIFTEENTH CENTURY)] - -"The qualities of the architecture of the decadence must be sought -not in the construction, but in the decoration of churches; here we -may freely admire the happy detail and patient execution which mark -the work of carvers and limners during the last two centuries of the -Middle Ages."[24] - -[24] Anthyme St. Paul, _Histoire Monumentale de la France_; Paris, -1884. - -Gothic architecture put forth its expansive force at the close of the -twelfth and during the thirteenth century, not only throughout Western -Europe, but even in Eastern countries, where monuments still survive -of the highest interest to us as the work of monkish architects who -came from France in the wake of the first Crusaders. The modifications -and enlargements of famous buildings in the Holy Land towards the -close of the twelfth century show evident traces of their influence, -which is further manifested in certain structures of Rhodes and -Cyprus from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, in which Western -and more especially French types have served as models. - - [Illustration: 79. FAÇADE OF THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. SOPHIA AT NICOSIA - (ISLAND OF CYPRUS)] - -"It will hardly be disputed that the prolonged sojourn of the -Crusaders in the Levant, the teachings of their architects, and -the contemplation of their works, were considerable factors in the -development of Arab art. There was a reaction of the West upon the -East; sometimes indeed such a direct influence is perceptible as to -astound and perplex the observer. To understand the part played by the -Crusaders in the East, and to appreciate its Western and independent -character, we must cast a rapid glance at the monuments constructed by -them in Cyprus and Rhodes after their expulsion from Syria. We shall -find the movement which originated in the twelfth century progressing -throughout the following centuries on the same lines; in other words, -drawing a continuous inspiration from France.[25] - -[25] Melchior de Vogüé, _Les Églises de la Terre Sainte_. - -"The island of Cyprus was conquered in 1191 by Richard Cœur de -Lion; in the following year it was ceded to Guy de Lusignan, in whose -family it remained until the close of the fifteenth century. Catherine -Cornaro, the widow of the last of the Lusignans, gave it in 1489 to -the Venetians, who retained possession of it till its conquest by -the Turks in 1571. Throughout the thirteenth century Cyprus was a -refuge for successive remnants of the Christian colonies of Syria. -French predominance was at its height in the fourteenth century. -The religious monuments of this period are very numerous and of -great variety of structure. Art had emerged from the cloister, and -had ceased to be the monopoly of monastic bodies. In Cyprus we no -longer find that scholastic uniformity which characterises the Latin -churches of the Holy Land. The new blood of secularism had entered -into Romanesque architecture and led to a fresh development of the -art in Cyprus as in France Architects applied the thirteenth-century -methods, fully recognising their consequences. They sacrificed to -local exigencies by the substitution of flat roofs for timber ones, -but this modification in nowise affected the general arrangement of -their buildings. - - [Illustration: 80. CATHEDRAL OF ST. NICHOLAS AT FAMAGUSTA (ISLAND OF - CYPRUS). FAÇADE] - - [Illustration: 81. CATHEDRAL OF ST. NICHOLAS AT FAMAGUSTA (ISLAND OF - CYPRUS)] - - -"The most considerable monument of the thirteenth century is the -Cathedral of Nicosia, built between 1209 and 1228, and dedicated to -St. Sophia (see Fig. 79). This large three-aisled church has all the -characteristics of French cathedrals of the period."[26] - -[26] Melchior de Vogüé, _Les Églises de la Terre Sainte_. - -The Churches of St. Catherine and of the Armenians, the mosques -of Emerghié and of Arab Achmet also date from the close of the -thirteenth century. Among the more numerous buildings of the -fourteenth century the most noteworthy are the Cathedral of St. -Nicholas at Famagusta (Figs. 80 and 81), with its three portals -and two towers; the Church of St. Sophia at Famagusta (Fig. 82), -the Premonstrant Monastery of Lapaïs, remarkable for the beauty -and nobility of its abbatial buildings, which comprise a large -three-aisled chapel, and several religious buildings at Paphos and -at Limasol. At Rhodes there are a number of churches built in the -fifteenth century after French models, which had no less a vogue -for dwelling-houses than for religious and military architecture; -in a word, architecture--civil, religious, or military--was French -in all its manifestations. "The guns of the order still point from -the embrasures of the towers, Soliman's stone cannon balls strew -the neighbouring ground; sculptured on the house fronts are the -blazons, and in many cases the French names, of their bygone owners. -Involuntarily the mind travels back by the space of three centuries, -reincorporating these forgotten worthies, and repeopling their -dwelling-places. One half expects to see the emblazoned doors thrown -open, to give egress to knightly owners, mustering for the last time -under the banner of St. John."[27] - -[27] Melchior de Vogüé, _Les Églises de la Terre Sainte_. - - [Illustration: 82. RUINS OF THE CHURCH OF ST. SOPHIA AT FAMAGUSTA - (ISLAND OF CYPRUS)] - - - - - CHAPTER X - - TOWERS AND STEEPLES--CHOIRS--CHAPELS - - -The first steeples were round, on the model of the Greek and Byzantine -cupolas, and modest in diameter, so that the bells they contained can -only have been small ones. These bells were suspended from the summit -of the tower, the portion of wall surrounding them being pierced by -arcaded openings, and crowned by a long pyramidal roof.[28] - -[28] _Encyclopédie de l'Architecture et de la Construction_, article -"Clocher," by Ed. Corroyer. - -Such towers were very frequently isolated from the body of the church. -A large number of Italian churches, dating from all periods of the -Middle Ages, have steeples at a considerable distance from the main -building. - -Force of habit determined the application of the round form to towers -of the twelfth century; but it is evident that a square plan was -preferred, even so early as the tenth century, and such a form was in -course of time rendered necessary by the development of the founder's -art, and the increase in the dimensions of bells at the beginning of -the twelfth century. Besides the great bells which proclaimed the -hour of prayer to a distant flock, small bells were in use to regulate -the religious exercises of the clergy. They are called in the Latin -texts _signum_, _schilla_, _nola_; in French _sin_, _esquielle_, -_eschelitte_; from the beginning of the tenth century they were placed -in the campaniles which crowned the domes. - -The Italian word _campanile_ has the force of the French terms _tour_, -_clocher_, _beffroi_ (or the English tower, steeple, belfry). But the -denomination _clocher_ has a general application to all pyramidal -structures rising above the roof of a church. - -The belfry was a tower, in most cases isolated, which contained the -bell destined to sound the curfew and tocsin, and to call the burghers -to civic assemblies. - -Like the belfry, the Italian campanile is generally an isolated -building, but it is usually placed in the near neighbourhood of a -church. Among the most famous _campanili_ are those of Florence--begun -in the fourteenth century, on the plans of Giotto,--of Padua, of -Ravenna, and the famous leaning tower of Pisa. - - [Illustration: 83. STEEPLE, VENDÔME (TWELFTH CENTURY)] - -In France the term campanile has a more general application, and is -given to the little pierced arcaded turrets which, in many churches, -crown the walls of the façade and shelter small bells. - - [Illustration: 84. GIOTTO'S TOWER AT FLORENCE] - -The most ancient belfries of the original provinces of France have -great analogies with Byzantine monuments as to form, even when -differing in detail. One of the most remarkable of these is the tower -of St. Front at Périgueux, which seems to date from the first years -of the eleventh century. It marked the sepulchre of the Saint, and -apparently embraced two bays of the original three-aisled Latin church -of the sixth century, evident traces of which have been discovered to -the west of the great domed building of later times. - -The tower of St. Front is composed of three square stories, -diminishing on plan as they rise, and crowned by a conical dome, -resting upon a circular colonnade, the columns of which vary in -height and diameter, and owe their origin to Roman examples in the -neighbourhood.[29] - -[29] _L'Architecture Romane_, by Ed. Corroyer; Paris, Maison Quantin, -1887. - -The influence of this remarkable building was very considerable. It -served as a model to architects of the neighbouring provinces. The -type was improved upon in the tower of the Abbey Church of Brantôme -by the avoidance of the false bearings which mar the structure of St. -Front, while at St. Léonard, near Limoges, a very original feature was -superadded in the octagonal form of the crown or roof. The Auvergnat -architects further perfected the construction by introducing internal -piers for the support of the recessed walls of the upper stories, as -at Puy.[30] - -[30] _Ibid._ 1888. - -It is worthy of note that, in spite of the importance given to -these buildings, the space allotted to the bells themselves was -comparatively limited, which seems to indicate that the towers were -destined for other purposes than the reception of bells. In the -eleventh century the tower bore the same relation to the cathedral or -abbey as did the donjon to the feudal castle. It was, in fact, the -symbol of power. As abbots and bishops enjoyed the same rights as the -nobles, it will be readily understood that the costliness of such -emblems would be governed solely by the resources of their authors. -The number of towers built at about the same period in connection with -cathedrals and abbeys, and the importance of such as were attached -even to simple parish churches may be explained if we consider -them mainly as denoting the status of an enfranchised commune. The -rivalries in connection with neighbouring towers undoubtedly had their -origin in conditions such as these. - - [Illustration: 85. BAYEUX CATHEDRAL. TOWERS OF THE WEST FRONT] - - [Illustration: 86. SENLIS CATHEDRAL. SOUTH TOWER OF WEST FRONT] - -Towards the close of the eleventh century and throughout the twelfth -many towers were built at an angle with the door, or in front of it, -so as to form a porch, as at St. Benoît-sur-Loire and Poissy; or above -it, as in the Churches of Ainay and of Moissac. - -Later on immense towers with spires were built at each angle of the -western façade, the gable of the nave rising between them. - -At the Abbey Church of Jumiéges a large projecting porch filled the -central bay of the ground story between the bases of the towers, but -more frequently the towers were in one plane with the chief porch, and -were themselves pierced with lateral porches, the three doors, with -their richly sculptured voussoirs, forming one vast decorative whole. - -The architects of the so-called Romanesque period built their towers -at the intersection of the transepts; but avoiding the constructive -audacities of the tower of St. Front, which was one of the most -generally accepted models of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, they -ensured the solidity of their central tower by placing the more or -less conical cupola which crowned the structure upon a square base, -carefully loaded and abutted at each angle. - -At the close of the twelfth century the architects of the -Ile-de-France adopted a square form for the body of the tower, and in -imitation of Oriental and Rhenish builders, reserved the octagonal -plan for the spire, ensuring the solidity of the angles by a variety -of ingenious combinations. - -The great central towers of the Norman churches built in England and -Normandy from the thirteenth to the fourteenth century were not always -merely belfries, as at Salisbury or Langrune, for instance; in many -cases they were lanterns, their functions being to light the centre -of the church and to form a magnificent decorative feature at the -intersection of transepts, nave, and choir in cruciform structures, -such as St. Georges, Bocherville, Coutances, etc. Of all the French -provinces Normandy clung most persistently to the lantern tower, and -that of St. Ouen at Rouen is one of the most interesting examples. - - [Illustration: 87. SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. STEEPLE] - - [Illustration: 88. CHURCH OF LANGRUNE (CALVADOS). STEEPLE] - -In other provinces, notably Picardy, Champagne, Burgundy, and the -Ile-de-France, lantern towers were superseded by timber _flèches_ -cased in lead, which rose at the intersection of the roofs of nave and -transepts. - -Among the most remarkable towers of the twelfth century in the -Northern provinces we may mention those of Tracy-le-Val (Oise), of -the Abbey Church of the Ste. Trinité at Vendôme, and of Bayeux; those -of the Abbaye-aux-Hommes at Caen; the old tower of the Cathedral of -Chartres, and that of St. Eusèbe at Auxerre. - -In the thirteenth century the height and decorative richness of these -structures had increased to an extraordinary degree. The tower of -Senlis (Fig. 86) is a most elegant example of the first years of a -century which witnessed the birth of so many marvels of architecture. - -In Burgundy several remarkable towers were built by the monks of -Cluny, who were free from the asceticism introduced by St. Bernard -among their brethren of Citeaux. The most notable of their structures -are perhaps the towers of the Church of St. Père, near Vézelay, built -about 1240. - -In the South various original developments in Gothic architecture were -logically brought about by a judicious use of the materials of the -country, such as brick. Most interesting examples of such development -are to be found in the tower of the Jacobin Church at Toulouse, which -dates from the close of the thirteenth century, and the donjon tower -of Albi, the characteristics of which we have already discussed. - - [Illustration: 89. CHURCH OF THE JACOBINS AT TOULOUSE. TOWER] - -Examples of isolated towers are hardly to be found of later date than -the thirteenth century. Bordeaux perhaps offers an exception. But -the general usage after this period was to include the towers in the -composition of the façade; their actual functions as belfries became -apparent only above the level of the vaults. A beautiful example of -this treatment may be studied in the noble composition of Notre Dame -de Paris. - -Its contemporary, the Cathedral of Laon, has four towers, terminating -in octagonal belfries, the angles of which are flanked by two-storied -openwork pinnacles; on the second of these stories are placed colossal -bulls, the effect of which is very striking. - -The towers of Rheims, which date from the second half of the -thirteenth century, are of secondary importance in the splendid -façade; but they are marked by a feature which was a novelty at -the time. The interior of the belfry is built with a cage to allow -free play to the bells, and space for the timbers by which they are -supported, while the exterior forms an octagonal tower flanked by -important pinnacles. - -Rheims may be said to mark in Gothic architecture the boundary which -separated its period of perfection from that of exaggeration and -mannerism. The mania for lightness and the desire to dazzle and -astound soon seduced its artists into a dangerous path which led -inevitably to decadence. Such effects first manifested themselves more -especially in the provinces of the German frontier, and the spire of -Strasburg, built in the fourteenth century, is a famous example of -these mistaken tendencies. - -Throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries towers adhered to -the plan and general arrangement adopted by the later architects of -the thirteenth century, diverging chiefly in the marvellous profusion -of detail and of sculpture, and in the excessive lightness of design. -The points of support were attenuated, and the mass of ornament -seemed designed to conceal them as far as possible. In France the -misfortunes of the times tended largely to perpetuate these dangerous -foibles; for a number of churches which were founded at the close of -the thirteenth century remained unfinished till the fifteenth and -sixteenth, when Gothic art was in full decadence. - - [Illustration: 90. CHURCH OF ST. PIERRE AT CAEN. TOWER] - -But we must not pass over unmentioned certain buildings famous for -boldness of construction and magnificence of decoration, if not for -purity of style. The following are perhaps the most important:--In -France the tower of St. Pierre at Caen, which shows strong traces -of that analogy, or family likeness, so to speak, uniting Norman -edifices; and the tower of St. Michel at Bordeaux, the spire of which -was destroyed by a hurricane in 1768, and has lately been restored -to its primitive height of 365 feet; in Austria the tower of St. -Stephen, one of the most important of such buildings in that country, -finished in 1433; the tower of the Cathedral of Freiburg-im-Breisgau -(grand-duchy of Baden), one of the most beautiful and important -examples. It was mainly constructed towards the close of the -fourteenth century, but the openwork spire was added about the middle -of the following century. - - [Illustration: 91. CHURCH OF ST. MICHEL AT BORDEAUX. TOWER] - -The Cathedral of Antwerp in Belgium was begun in the middle of the -fourteenth century; the nave and the four side aisles were not -completed till a century later. The façade is said to have been begun -in 1406 by a Boulognese master-mason, one Pierre Amel; but of the -two belfry towers only that on the north was completed in 1518. Its -principal merit lies in its boldness of construction and its unusual -height of 410 feet, rather than in purity of style or beauty of -detail, the latter being a conglomerate made up from every period of -Gothic. - - [Illustration: 92. CATHEDRAL OF FREIBURG-IM-BREISGAU (GRAND-DUCHY OF - BADEN). TOWER] - - -_Choirs._--In Christian churches the choir[31] proper was an -institution long before the chapels.[32] - -[31] _L'Architecture Romane_, by Ed. Corroyer; Paris, Maison Quantin, -1888. - -[32] _Encyclopédie de l'Architecture et de la Construction_, article -"Chœur-Chapelle," by Ed. Corroyer. - - [Illustration: 93. ANTWERP CATHEDRAL] - -At the extremity of the basilica, in the centre of the chalcidium or -transept which gave to the basilican plan the form of a T or Tau--a -figure venerated by the Christians as symbolising the Cross--were -placed the altar, the sanctuary, and the precincts occupied by the -deacons and sub-deacons. The altar stood in the midst, between the -hemicycle or apse and the nave arch. The hemicycle or apse which -formed the Pagan tribunal was by the Christians reserved for ordained -priests, hence its name, _presbyterium_. A semi-circular bench -(_consistorium_), interrupted in the middle by a seat higher than the -rest, on either side of which sat the inferior clergy, surrounded the -apse, the raised seat (_suggestus_) being the throne of the bishop or -his representative. - -This portion of the basilica underwent a later modification; from -the _presbyterium_ it became the _martyrium_, or shrine in which was -placed the body of the patron saint of the basilica or the relic to -which the devotion of the faithful was specially addressed. This usage -had been established even before the year 500 in the first basilica of -St. Martin at Tours. - -The primitive apse was lighted only from the nave or transept. After -its transformation into the _martyrium_ it was not only pierced with -windows, but, according to some authors, was provided with openings -along its base, or even arcaded, so as to give access to a low gallery -running round it. If this be so, the characteristic arrangement of -mediæval churches dates from the fifth century. - -In later times when it became customary to place the altar at the -back, against the wall of the apse, seats for the bishops, priests, -and choristers--_the choir_--were arranged between the altar and the -nave. In monastic churches, built after the Latin tradition, the choir -was generally in the crossing, or where there were no transepts, -in the nave itself. It was separated from the congregation by a low -enclosure of stone or marble. There are a few examples of churches -with _two_ choirs, one at the east, the other at the west. - -In the first churches of the Romanesque epoch the choir was confined -to the space between the piers of the crossing; it soon, however, made -considerable advances. In monastic churches the choir or sanctuary was -cut off from the surrounding spaces by barriers of stone or wood, and -towards the nave was closed by a _jubé_, or rood screen and loft, the -upper part of which was accessible to the monks for the reading of the -epistle and gospel. Bishops, on the other hand, being free from the -necessity of closing the choirs of their cathedrals, made a point of -providing their flocks with wide spaces, in which ceremonies could be -afforded a liberal development. - -At the end of the twelfth century and beginning of the thirteenth -these ideas governed the construction of important churches. Changes -continued to be made, however, and from the reign of St. Louis we find -the choirs of great cathedrals arranged on the exclusive principles -of the monastic churches. The arcades surrounding them were filled -with high stone walls, against the inner sides of which the stalls of -the clergy, with their lofty and richly carved wooden canopies, were -securely fixed. - -Among the more famous choirs we may quote those of Notre Dame de -Paris, of Amiens, of Beauvais, of Auch, of Lincoln, of Canterbury, of -Spires, of Worms, of Burgos, etc. In order to satisfy the laymen whose -view of the ceremonies performed in the choir was intercepted by -these enclosures, the sanctuary was surrounded by chapels contrived in -the wall of the apse, and in the side aisles of the nave. - - -_Chapels._--From the end of the tenth century, according to M. de -Caumont, we shall sometimes find aisles running entirely round the -choir or sanctuary and communicating with it by an arcade. Even at -this early period there must have been chapels in such aisles. In the -twelfth century the disposition to elongate the choirs of important -churches became general, and brought with it certain modifications of -the plan. The Church of Vignori, which dates from the tenth century, -has an apse divided into three chapels, recalling in its arrangement -that of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. - -The Church of St. Servan, built in the eleventh century, has five -chapels round the choir, and the Auvergnat churches--Notre Dame du -Port at Clermont, and St. Paul at Issoire among others,--which date -from the beginning of the twelfth century, also show in this respect -some interesting peculiarities. The importance given to the apse by -these rings of chapels can scarcely be too much insisted on. - -On plan these apsidal chapels are, for the most part, round-ended. -They are pierced with one or more round-headed windows, and have -segmental vaults. On the outside they are often ornamented by -mouldings, modillions, and even by variations in the colour of their -stones. Chapels between the buttresses of the nave are rare in several -aisled churches of the Romanesque period, but in many such buildings -they were added at a later time. - -The great revolution which took place in the art of building towards -the end of the twelfth century had, for one of its results, the -multiplication of chapels in the numerous great churches dating from -that epoch. The principle of that revolution being to replace the -inert masses which had previously resisted the various thrusts by -comparatively slender points of support upon which those thrusts could -be collected, stability being secured by a scientific calculation -of forces, it led, as a natural consequence, to a considerable -augmentation of disposable surfaces in the interior. These surfaces, -mere curtains between the points of support, were ornamented with -vast networks of stone, embracing panels of painted glass, on which -the principal events of the Old and New Testaments, and the scenes -so vividly outlined in the traditions of the time, were traced with -admirable art. Room was found for chapels of considerable size, not -only in the walls, or rather between the piers of the apse, but also -in those of the side aisles, the bounding walls of which were carried -out to the external faces of the buttresses receiving the thrust of -the main vault, which buttresses now formed the lateral walls of a -continuous line of chapels. - -The veneration paid to the relics of saints increased greatly after -the year 1000, in consequence of the pilgrimages to the Holy Land -which preceded the Crusades. Each religious community established a -patron, and demanded a special oratory dedicated to him, and it was a -point of honour to make such a shrine excel that of the neighbouring, -and, in most cases, rival corporation. The demand for these shrines -increased to such an extent at the close of the fourteenth and -throughout the fifteenth century that, though chapels were constructed -in all the available spaces of the vast cathedrals, they were found -insufficient, and sanctuaries, which in earlier times had been -the special property of particular bodies, were shared by several -confraternities. - -The Lady Chapel, or chapel dedicated to the Virgin, was generally in -the apse, and in the thirteenth century, especially at its close, had -been so considerably developed as to give great importance to the -portion of the apse allotted to it. Very curious examples of this -development are to be studied in the Cathedrals of Bourges, Amiens, -Meaux, and Rouen, among others. - -In many cathedrals and churches of the Middle Ages lateral chapels -or annexes were built to serve some subsidiary purpose; such were -chapter-houses, muniment rooms, treasuries, or even mortuaries, as -the presbytery of Lincoln, the circular chapel at Canterbury, known -as Becket's Crown, containing the tomb of Thomas à Becket, and Henry -VII.'s chapel at Westminster. - -A most interesting example of this species of structure dating from -the end of the twelfth century is to be seen at Soissons Cathedral; a -two-storied vaulted building is connected by openings with the upper -galleries of the round-ended south transept, and contains a funeral -chapel, with a vaulted chamber above for a treasury. - -In many countries small ancient buildings are to be found, known -as baptisteries or chapels; these latter are doubtless the little -rural churches which were built in great numbers in the first -centuries of the Christian era, and are designated _capella_ in texts -of the time of Charlemagne, or perhaps oratories, such as it was -customary to attach to the charnel-houses of towns or great religious -establishments.[33] - -[33] _L'Architecture Romane_, by Ed. Corroyer; Paris, Maison Quantin, -1888. - -The use of private chapels dates from the earliest days of -Christianity; great personages who had embraced the new faith followed -the example of the Romans who constructed private basilicas in their -palaces. The custom was perpetuated, and the splendid Palatine Chapel -of Aix is one of the most magnificent of its results. In later times -kings and great nobles built themselves sanctuaries within their -castles. In the time of Charles V. the Louvre owned an important -chapel; the feudal castles of Coucy and Pierrefonds, among others, -contained large chapels, the arrangement of which is very curious. -Archæologists cite as of special beauty among seignorial chapels -the ancient oratory of the Dukes of Bourbon at Moulins, the Chapels -of Chenonceaux, Chambord, and Chaumont, and the Chapel of Jacques -Cœur's _hôtel_ at Bourges. Many episcopal palaces have very -remarkable chapels, such as that of the archbishop's palace at Rheims. - -Refuges, hospitals, madhouses, and prisons also had chapels more or -less important. - -The term _Sainte Chapelle_[34] was applied in the Middle Ages to -buildings raised over spots sanctified by the martyrdom of a saint, or -destined to enshrine relics of peculiar holiness. The most famous was -the royal oratory, built by Pierre de Montereau between 1242 and 1248 -on the south side of the royal palace, now the _Palais de Justice_, -Paris, to receive the Crown of Thorns, the pieces of the true Cross, -and other relics brought by the royal founder, St. Louis, from the -Holy Land. - -[34] The plans and elevations of these chapels are so well known, and -have been so frequently published, that we abstain from reproducing -them in the present work. - -The distinguishing feature of the _Ste. Chapelle_ of Paris is its -division into two stories--the upper chapel, which communicated with -the royal apartments, and the lower chapel on the ground floor, which -may have been open to the public. Its construction is remarkable no -less for the happy boldness with which the whole of the spaces between -the buttresses were utilised for the introduction of immense painted -windows, than for the perfection of execution and the beauty of the -sculptures, and this in spite of the rapidity with which the work was -carried out. An annexe, which has now disappeared, adjoined the apse -on the north, and consisted of three stories serving as sacristies and -muniment rooms. The spire, a wooden structure cased in lead, dating -from the time of Charles VII., was destroyed by fire in 1630; it was -shortly restored, only to be again demolished at the close of the -eighteenth century, and was finally replaced by the architect Lassus, -who restored the building. - -The _Ste. Chapelle_ of St. Germain-en-Laye must have been built some -years before that of the royal palace of Paris. It is remarkable for -certain peculiarities of structure which show a greater architectural -skill; the piers which sustain the vault have a greater interior -projection; the formerets are disengaged from the wall, and the square -windows occupy the whole space between the buttresses, and rise to -close beneath the cornice. This most original and learned arrangement -gives the building a very graceful aspect, and brings out its elegant -proportions. - -The _Ste. Chapelle_ of Vincennes, begun by Charles VI., was not -completed until the reign of Henry II. In construction it is akin to -that of Paris. The two-storied annexes which formed the sacristies and -treasury were finished towards the close of the fifteenth century. - -After the example of kings and princes the great abbeys began to -raise important oratories independent of their conventual churches. -The Abbey of St. Martin des Champs at Paris founded two large chapels -about the middle of the thirteenth century,--one dedicated to the -Virgin, and the other to St. Michael. - -Pierre de Montereau was commissioned to build, in addition to the -_Ste. Chapelle_ of the palace, a chapel dedicated to the Virgin, -within the precincts of the Abbey of St. Germain des Prés; the plan -of the vaults differs here from that of the Ste. Chapelle of the -palace. According to a drawing by Alexander Lenoir, made before the -destruction of this chapel of the Virgin, the pointed arches comprised -two bays, in imitation of the vaults on intersecting arches in Notre -Dame of Paris, the origin of which we discussed in chapter vi. - -The Abbey of Châalis, near Senlis, founded by Louis the Fat in 1136, -which was one of the most important abbeys of the Cistercian order -in the thirteenth century, possessed an abbey church of five aisles, -over 330 feet long. Towards the middle of the thirteenth century -it nevertheless founded a _Ste. Chapelle_, known as the Chapelle -de l'Abbé. The building has undergone various vicissitudes, and -the ribbed vaults which date from the reign of St. Louis were once -decorated with frescoes, attributed to Primaticcio. The building -still exists, however, almost in its entirety. It illustrates the -considerable influence exercised by the Ste. Chapelle of Paris from -its very foundation on the great nobles, more especially the heads of -rich abbeys eager to parade their immense power and wealth. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - SCULPTURE - - -In the Middle Ages all the arts were auxiliary to architecture. The -architect traced the details of his conception in the workshop, and -superintended the construction; he directed stone-carvers, masons, -sculptors, illuminators, painters, and glass-stainers, and laid his -_imprimatur_ on every branch of the work of which he was the creator. - -Thus the connection between the allied arts was very close. The -history of sculpture is that of architecture, for the diverse -influences which marked their origin and modifications were common to -both. Each reached its apogee in the brilliant manifestations of the -thirteenth century, and each followed the same path to decadence less -than two centuries later. - -Statuary and ornamental sculpture were inseparable, being executed by -the same artists in pursuance of the same idea: the study of nature. - -In obedience to the law of increasing development they abandoned the -hieratic forms imposed by religious tradition, but only to give a new -expression to these very traditions, which were still preserved and -venerated. - -Roman inspiration, and even direct imitation of Roman sculpture, -is clearly traceable in the first half of the thirteenth century. -Rheims, which may be accepted as the masterpiece, the last word, so to -speak, of Gothic architecture, illustrates this influence in certain -magnificent examples of the western porch. - - [Illustration: 94. RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. STATUES OF WEST FRONT. CENTRAL - PORCH] - - [Illustration: 95. RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. STATUES OF WEST FRONT] - - [Illustration: 96. RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. STATUES OF WEST FRONT] - -The architects of the thirteenth century were pre-eminently the -children of their generation. Ignoring their Latin descent they -followed in the paths of the innovators so far as monumental structure -was concerned; but they in their turn inaugurated a new departure -by abandoning the Byzantine convention in statuary and sculptured -ornament which had prevailed throughout the preceding century, in -favour of the more ancient Roman tradition. In this one respect they -made a salutary return upon those antique principles which they -afterwards definitively abandoned. - - [Illustration: 97. RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. INTERIOR OF PRINCIPAL DOOR. - STATUE AND ORNAMENT] - - [Illustration: 98. RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. INTERIOR OF PRINCIPAL DOOR. - STATUE AND ORNAMENT] - -The influence of Roman art upon French mediæval sculpture is -unquestionable. Its course may be traced through the relations -existing between North and South long before the Crusades, principally -by means of the great religious communities, and even more manifestly -in the countless monuments raised in Gaul on Roman models, or in those -constructed by Gallo-Romans for several centuries. Many of these -survived the incursions of the barbarians. - -The origin of ornamental sculpture is no less venerable. -Superficially, it would seem to have drawn its inspiration mainly from -the Romanesque epoch; but according to modern _savants_[35] its source -must be looked for in much remoter periods. Oriental art, imported -into Scandinavia, and there barbarised, was introduced into Ireland -in the early centuries of our era. The Irish monks, whose power was -very great, and who seem to have been the principal agents in the -Renascence of the days of Charlemagne, created, or at any rate greatly -influenced Carlovingian art by their manuscripts and miniatures. From -Carlovingian art that of the so-called Romanesque period was born, and -this was in its turn the parent of the ornamental sculpture of the -thirteenth century. In the admirably decorative character of this -art we recognise the influence of an ancient tradition handed on from -generation to generation, to be finally rejuvenated, invigorated, and -transformed as to detail by a close study of nature, precisely as had -happened in the allied development of statuary. - -[35] M. A. de Montaiglon, Professor at the _École des Chartes_. - -The architects of the Ile-de-France, like those of Rheims, -assimilated the principles of the new art with the supple skill which -characterised them, such assimilation bearing rich fruit at Notre Dame -de Paris in the sculptured figures of the west porch, and no less in -their accessory ornaments. - - [Illustration: 99. NOTRE DAME DE PARIS. PRINCIPAL DOOR. RUNNING LEAF - PATTERN] - - [Illustration: 100. NOTRE DAME DE PARIS. RUNNING LEAF PATTERN ON - ARCHIVOLTS OF NORTH DOOR] - -A most instructive comparative study is furnished by the north and -south porches of Chartres Cathedral. Here we find, in one building, -examples of sculptures inspired by the hieratic tradition of -Byzantium, and of those which had been transformed and naturalised by -a return to antique ideals. - - [Illustration: 101. CHARTRES CATHEDRAL. STATUES OF THE NORTH PORCH] - -At Amiens again certain of the sculptures were influenced by the new -principles. But in the greater part there is a prodigality of motive -and looseness of execution which indicate decline no less surely than -the mistaken ingenuity of the structural details. - - [Illustration: 102. CHARTRES CATHEDRAL. STATUES OF THE SOUTH PORCH] - -Mediæval sculpture followed the fortunes of architecture, both in -its rise and fall. In its first beginnings it was characterised by -a purity of style not unworthy of Rome in her most glorious days, -but rapidly losing touch with the antique ideal, it lost measure and -proportion in its development. The wise laws of simplicity, essential -to all greatness in art, were set aside in favour of an unruly -exuberance which ran riot in details, and was the immediate cause of -a decline perceptible even in the fourteenth century, and absolute -in the fifteenth. "Sculpture was at its zenith. We are astounded by -the activity and fertility of thirteenth-century artists, who peopled -façades and embrasures with figures from seven to ten feet in height, -and animated every tympanum with countless statuettes. The façade of -Notre Dame, by no means one of the richest, has sixty-eight colossal -statues, for the most part of the highest excellence; at Chartres and -at Amiens there are over a hundred to each porch. The famous figure of -Christ at Amiens is a masterpiece; bas-reliefs work out the details of -the main subject, and enrich the story with innumerable pictures of -amazing vigour and originality." - - [Illustration: 103. AMIENS CATHEDRAL. CENTRAL PORCH OF WEST FRONT] - - [Illustration: 104. AMIENS CATHEDRAL. STATUES IN THE SOUTH PORCH] - - [Illustration: 105. AMIENS CATHEDRAL. CHOIR STALLS. CARVED ORNAMENT] - -The favourite themes of the thirteenth century had something in -common with those of the Romanesque epoch, though there is a sensible -difference of treatment and considerable progress in composition, -which exhibited more of taste and learning and less of eccentricity. -But the satiric power and delight in caricature of our forefathers -still demanded an outlet. These found expression in many a caustic -gibe at clergy, princes, and rich burghers, and took substance in many -a quaint gargoyle. A luxuriant system of ornamentation, adapted from -the vegetable kingdom, was auxiliary to statuary. The main subject was -enframed by it, or relieved against it; while often the composition -itself was enriched by its introduction to complete the decorative -effect. Or such a system of decoration was the only sculpturesque -motive employed; it was then used with the utmost elaboration, and -developed at the expense of statuary. Such was the case in Burgundy -and Normandy, in which provinces the latter art was of slow growth. -The Byzantine character of the scrolls, carved bands, and fantastic -foliage of Romanesque art disappeared; ornament took on a new -independence, and began to seek its types among native plant forms. - -The carved leafage (Fig. 106) of the cloister arcades in the Abbey of -Mont St. Michel strikingly illustrate this departure. The very plants -which inspired the thirteenth-century sculptors still flourish at the -foot of the ancient abbey walls. - - [Illustration: 106. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. CLOISTERS OF THE - THIRTEENTH CENTURY. CARVED ORNAMENT OF INTERIOR SPANDRILS] - - [Illustration: 107. WOODEN STATUETTE (HEIGHT 23⅝ IN.) THIRTEENTH - CENTURY. ATELIERS DE LA CHAISE DIEU, AUVERGNE] - - [Illustration: 108. IVORY STATUETTE (HEIGHT 9⅞ IN.) THIRTEENTH - CENTURY. SCHOOL OF PARIS] - -Thus the flora of our own fields was applied in lithic form to the -elements of our church architecture. But the breadth proper to -architectural sculpture was still preserved by means of ingenious -combinations. - -It was not until the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that the -imitation of natural forms became servile, tedious, and over-minute, -and that the beauty of the whole was sacrificed to exaggerated -faithfulness of detail.[36] - -[36] Anthyme St. Paul, _Histoire Monumentale de la France_; Paris, -Hachette and Co., 1884. - - [Illustration: 108A. IVORY STATUETTE (HEIGHT 9½ IN.) FIFTEENTH - CENTURY. SCHOOL OF PARIS] - -It should be noted that the decadence which manifested itself in -monumental sculpture was far less rapid in the more intimate art which -may be distinguished as _imagery_. In the thirteenth and fourteenth -centuries all sculptors were _image-makers_; but towards the close of -the latter, and during the fifteenth, the term was specially applied -to carvers of images in wood, ivory, etc. Art still flourished in -their ateliers in all its beauty, notably that of the goldsmiths, -who carved images in high or low relief in precious metals, and who, -thanks to the severely paternal regulations of the _maîtrise_, were -enabled to bring French decorative art to the highest degree of -perfection. The beautiful carved wooden stalls of Amiens, Auch, and -Albi, to name but the most famous, testify to the vigorous talent of -the fourteenth and fifteenth-century image-carvers. - - [Illustration: 109. WOODEN STATUETTE (HEIGHT 10 IN.) FOURTEENTH - CENTURY. SCHOOL OF PARIS] - - [Illustration: 110. IVORY DIPTYCH (HEIGHT 6⅜ IN.) FOURTEENTH - CENTURY. SCHOOL OF PARIS] - - [Illustration: 110A. IVORY DIPTYCH (HEIGHT 2¾ IN.) FOURTEENTH - CENTURY. SCHOOL OF THE ILE-DE-FRANCE] - - [Illustration: 111. IVORY DIPTYCH (HEIGHT 4¾ IN.) FOURTEENTH - CENTURY. SCHOOL OF PARIS] - -Flemish _ateliers_, which were kept up by the severe rules of the -guilds, exercised a salutary influence upon the Burgundian craftsmen. -This is more especially true of the great workshops of Antwerp -and of Brussels, and perhaps also of those of Southern Germany. -Burgundian influences reacted in their turn upon the artists of the -Ile-de-France, notably in Paris (that brilliant centre of all artistic -activities in the fourteenth century), and stirred them to emulation. -The union of these various elements brought about the revival of the -fine tradition of the thirteenth century, and towards the close of -the fifteenth century paved the way for a French Renascence, which -heralded that more famous movement of the sixteenth, the credit of -which is usually given to the Italians, who, however, such was the -infatuation of the times, contributed rather to the debasement than to -the regeneration of French national art. - - [Illustration: 111A. IVORY PLAQUE (HEIGHT 6-11/16 IN.) COVER OF AN - EVANGELIUM. FOURTEENTH CENTURY. SCHOOL OF THE ILE-DE-FRANCE (SOISSONS)] - - [Illustration: 112. HEAD IN SILVER GILT REPOUSSÉ. HALF-LIFE SIZE. - THIRTEENTH CENTURY. ATELIERS OF THE GOLDSMITH'S GUILD OF PARIS] - - [Illustration: 113. GROUP CARVED IN WOOD (HEIGHT 10-1/4 IN.) FIFTEENTH - CENTURY. SCHOOL OF ANTWERP] - -The remarkable sculptures that owe their origin to the _ateliers_ of -Antwerp are distinguished by one of the quarterings of the civic arms, -a severed hand burnt in with a red-hot iron. Those of Brussels are -branded in like fashion. The images of wood, ivory, and _vermeil_, -that we figure as illustrating the art of the image-carvers from the -thirteenth to the fifteenth century, show that the old tradition was -still cherished in this community. Their artists were so far swayed -by iconographic convention that a certain hieratic sentiment is -perceptible in their works; but this is never allowed to outweigh -fitness of action and expression, and their masterpieces are so -instinct with taste and delicacy, composed with so much skill and -executed with such freedom, that they are the admiration of modern -artists.[37] - -[37] The statuettes, diptychs, etc., in wood, ivory, and _vermeil_, or -silver-gilt, figured from No. 107 to No. 115, belong to the author. - - [Illustration: 114. WOODEN STATUETTE, PAINTED AND GILDED (HEIGHT - 19-11/16 IN.) FIFTEENTH CENTURY. SCHOOL OF BRUSSELS] - - [Illustration: 115. WOODEN STATUETTE, PAINTED AND GILDED (HEIGHT - 19-11/16 IN.) SIXTEENTH CENTURY. SCHOOL OF MUNICH] - -These essentially French qualities they owe, primarily, of course, -to the genius of their creators, but in a scarcely inferior degree -to the fostering care of the _maîtrises_, institutions which only -require a certain modification by the progressive leaven of today, to -become models for the imitation of all whose function it is to develop -national art. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - PAINTING - - -The origin of painting dates from remote antiquity, and the art had -already passed through many developments before it was applied by -Gothic architects to the decoration of their buildings. - -"In the thirteenth century the architectonic painting of the Middle -Ages reached its apogee in France. The painted windows, the vignettes -of manuscripts, and the mural decorations of this period all denote -a learned and finished art, and are marked by a singular harmony of -tones, and a corresponding harmony with architectural forms. It is -beyond question that this art was developed in the cloister, and was a -direct product of Græco-Byzantine teachings."[38] - -[38] Viollet-le-Duc, _Dictionnaire raisonné_, vol. vii. - -From the archæological point of view, however, it is important to bear -in mind the considerable influence exercised upon continental art by -the manuscripts and miniatures of Irish monks, so early as the reign -of Charlemagne. - - [Illustration: 116. PAINTINGS IN CAHORS CATHEDRAL. HORIZONTAL - PROJECTION OF THE CUPOLA WITH FORESHORTENED FIGURES AND THEIR - ARCHITECTURAL FRAMEWORK] - -Towards the close of the twelfth century sculpture and painting alike -entered on a new phase, resulting from that process of architectural -evolution we have been considering. The hieratic tradition was set -aside for the direct teaching and inspiration of nature. But as the -mastery of the painter increased, the mural spaces available for -the application of his new methods diminished rapidly, till, by the -thirteenth century, the only wall surfaces left to him were those -beneath the windows, and some few triangular spaces in the vault, -where the interlacing network of arches became gradually closer and -closer. Finding themselves thus practically excluded from the new -Gothic buildings, the painters of the day turned their attention with -entire success to the decoration of ancient monuments by the new -naturalistic methods. The domes of great abbey churches such as St. -Front (Périgueux) offered immense bare surfaces, the concave forms -of which they utilised with extraordinary skill, adorning them with -compositions in which figure and ornament are so adroitly combined, -that they seem to be of normal proportions, in spite of their really -colossal size (Fig. 117). - - [Illustration: 117. PAINTING IN CAHORS CATHEDRAL. FRAGMENT OF ONE OF - THE EIGHT SECTORS OF THE CUPOLA. THE PROPHET EZEKIEL] - -Thanks to a discovery of mural paintings made in the Cathedral of -Cahors in 1890, of the greatest archæological importance, we are able -to verify these statements. - -During the progress of certain works undertaken for the preservation -of the two domes, some paintings of great interest were laid bare on -the removal of several coats of whitewash from the western cupola. -Traces of similar decoration were found on the eastern cupola and its -pendentives, but these it was found impossible to preserve, the action -of the air causing them to peel at once from the surfaces. But the -western composition is intact, and though the brilliance of the colour -has no doubt suffered from time, we can still appreciate the learning, -vigour, and firmness of hand perceptible in the design, which is -outlined in black. - -This western cupola, which is ovoid, and some fifty-three feet in -diameter, like that of the east, is divided by its pictorial scheme -into eight sectors, separated by wide bands of boldly-designed fruits -and flowers. Fig. 116 gives an exact idea of the general arrangement. -Eight colossal figures of prophets, varying in height from fifteen to -sixteen feet approximately, form the chief motives of the decoration. -David, the prophet king, and the four great prophets: Daniel to -the left of David; then in order, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel on -the right, towards the choir of the church, and the three minor -prophets--Jonah, Esdras, and Habakkuk--are painted in modulated tones, -the dark outline forming a setting, on a background varying from tawny -to deep red. The figures are enframed in a firmly-drawn architectural -setting. This architecture is painted in gray against the masonry, -the courses of which are indicated by double lines of brown upon the -pale ochre of the general surface. Each prophet holds a phylactery -or banderole inscribed with his name in beautiful thirteenth-century -characters. - -The floriated bands which divide the sectors terminate above in a -circular frieze surrounding the crown of the cupola. The latter -represents a starry sky, the centre painted with the apotheosis of -St. Stephen, the patron of the cathedral. The frieze is painted -with scenes from the trial and stoning of the Saint; the life-size -figures are full of expression and grouped with great variety. In -these paintings there are evident leanings towards the naturalistic -evolution; and though the figures of the prophets are still hieratic -in certain respects, the poses, heads, and details all point to -evident research in the matter of physiognomy. This research is -carried very far in the figures of the circular frieze, where the -hands have evidently been carefully studied from nature. - - [Illustration: 118. PAINTINGS IN CAHORS CATHEDRAL. FRAGMENT OF THE - CENTRAL FRIEZE OF THE CUPOLA] - -Technically speaking, these paintings are not frescoes. "The medium -employed seems to have been egg, the white and yolk mixed, and the -method very analogous to that of water-colour painting.... The red -tones were laid over a bed of deep orange, the effect being one of -extraordinary vigour and brilliance, taking into account the means at -command. The use of a prepared ground was systematic, and was resorted -to whenever intensity of the tones or colour effects was desired. -Evident efforts in the direction of modelling are noticeable, -though these have been neutralised to a great extent by a lack of -concentration in the lights, and if it were not for the thick outline -in which each figure is set, there would be much in common between -the methods of these paintings and those renderings of diffused light -affected by our modern _plein-airistes_. The general tone is that of -the simpler paintings of the thirteenth century, that is to say, of -those in which no gold was used. The effect is warm and brilliant, the -dominant hue orange, heightened by reds of various tints."[39] - -[39] From the technical notes of M. Gaïda. - -According to the archæological records derived from various works of -the historians of Le Quercy, these paintings in the west cupola of -Cahors were carried out under the direction of the Bishops Raymond de -Cornil, 1280-93, Sicard de Montaigu, 1294-1300, Raymond Panchelli,[40] -1300-1312, or Hugo Geraldi, 1312-16, the friend of Pope Clement V. and -of Philip IV. of France, who was burnt alive at Avignon, or perhaps -even of Guillaume de Labroa, 1316-24, whose residence was at Avignon, -and who governed the diocese of Cahors through a procurator. From this -period onwards there was no further question of decorative works, the -successors of these bishops being fully occupied in maintaining the -struggle against the English invaders. - -[40] Raymond Panchelli, or Raymond II., who in 1303 began to build the -Bridge of Valentré at Cahors. - -It seems reasonable therefore to infer that the Cahors paintings -date either from the end of the thirteenth century or the beginning -of the fourteenth. In any case, these decorations are of very great -artistic merit, and of the highest interest as an unique example of -French decorative art at the finest period of the thirteenth century, -when Gothic architecture had reached its apogee, and was producing -masterpieces which served as models for contemporary artists, and even -more notably, for those of the early fourteenth century. - -That vigilant guardian of our beautiful cathedrals and historic -monuments, the _Administration des Cultes_, has taken measures which -do it infinite honour in this matter. No attempt has been made to -restore the paintings, but all necessary steps have been taken to -ensure their preservation as they stand, so as to leave intact the -archæological value of these convincing witnesses to the genius of our -French mediæval painters. - -The mural spaces available for fresco decoration having been gradually -suppressed, and decorative painting limited to the illumination of -certain subordinate members of the structure, the mediæval artists -began to apply themselves to the decoration of the great screens of -glass which, with their sculptured framework of stone, now filled -the entire spaces between the piers. In this new art, or rather this -incarnation of the spirit of decoration under a new form, we find a -fresh illustration of that supple assimilative genius which already -distinguished the French artist. - - [Illustration: 119, 120. PAINTED WINDOWS OF THE EARLY TWELFTH CENTURY. - FROM ST. RÉMI AT RHEIMS[41]] - -[41] Drawings lent by M. Ed. Didron, painter upon glass. - -"It is in the nature of the material used, that painted windows -should greatly affect the character of the building they decorate. -If their treatment is injudicious, the intended architectural -effect may be greatly modified; if, on the other hand, they -are intelligently applied, they tend to bring out the beauty of -structural surroundings.... As is the case with all architectonic -painting, stained glass demands simplicity in composition, sobriety -in execution, and an avoidance of naturalistic imitation. It should -aim neither at illusion nor perspective. Its scheme of colour should -be frank, energetic, comprising few tints, yet producing a harmony -at once sumptuous and soothing, which should compel attention, but -seeks not to engross it to the detriment of the setting. Like a mural -mosaic, an Eastern carpet, or the enamelled goldsmith's work of the -twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a truly decorative window has no -affinities with a picture, a scene or landscape gazed at from an open -window, where the interest concentrates itself upon a particular -point, and where the illumination is not equally diffused throughout. -The fundamental law of decorative painting rests on a convention the -aim of which is the satisfaction of the eye, which finds its pleasure -to a far greater degree in the logical decoration of some structural -or useful object than in its realisation of natural phenomena. -Between painted windows and pictures a great gulf is fixed; and the -modern school, the heir of the Italian Renascence, seeking to bridge -it over, has seduced decorative art from the safe paths of sound -judgment."[42] - -[42] _Le Vitrail à l'Exposition de 1889_, by Ed. Didron; Paris, 1890. - -[Illustration: 121. PAINTED WINDOW OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. CHURCH OF - BONLIEU (CREUSE)] - - [Illustration: 122. PAINTED WINDOW OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. CHARTRES - CATHEDRAL] - -The true functions of stained glass were never more admirably -understood than in the twelfth century. The artists of that day -had a perfect comprehension of those colour-harmonies, the subdued -splendour of which best accorded with the simple and vigorous forms -of Romanesque architecture. Upon his glass of various tints the -painter first outlined his figure or ornament in black. This outline -he supported with a flat half-tint which supplied a rough modelling -and allowed the forms expressed to make their fullest effect from a -distance. When, in the thirteenth century, the extreme austerity -of religious buildings began to relax, the splendour of the painted -windows increased proportionately; but the coloration, though it -increased in glow and vigour, still preserved its complete harmony -with its surroundings. An additional richness is perceptible in -work of the fourteenth century, at which period red glass began to -be used with a certain prodigality. The system of execution remains -unchanged so far; but the black outline is considerably attenuated, -and the half-tone which emphasises it loses much of its importance. -The figures, in place of the hieratic repose of an earlier period, -affect a certain grace and animation which herald a tendency towards -realistic imitation. These germs of naturalism soon bore fruit. At -the close of the fourteenth century the discovery of how to obtain -yellow from salts of silver, and the facility with which it could be -used to warm the grayer tones of glass by the help of the muffle, -caused a revolution in the art of glass-painting, and prepared the way -for polychromatic enamelling. This discovery, eminently useful when -discreetly applied, was to lead to regrettable exaggerations. - - [Illustration: 123. PAINTED WINDOW OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. - CHARTRES CATHEDRAL] - - [Illustration: 124. PAINTED WINDOW OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. CHURCH - OF ST. GERMER, TROYES] - -In the fifteenth century the figures of saints were usually drawn -upon glass so tinted as to be of a soft white tone; the hair, beards, -head-dresses, jewels, trimmings, and embroideries were painted in -yellow. The figures stood out in bold relief against a background -of blue or red, and were divided by a damasked drapery of green or -purple. Vast architectural motives were introduced enframing the -figures and filling up the immense window spaces of the latest period -of mediæval art. The transformation was radical. It is of interest to -note that the final development of the Gothic style ought logically -to have brought about a recrudescence of vigour in the coloration -of stained glass; but the exact reverse was the case; and a marked -modification took place in the glowing effects won by a diversity of -strong tints. The sort of _camaïeu_ which was the result obliged the -painter to insist more strongly on the modelling of the figures, and -to give less importance to the black outline, which was eventually -suppressed altogether. - - [Illustration: 125. PAINTED WINDOWS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. CHURCH - OF ST. URBAIN AT TROYES] - -In the sixteenth century painted glass became to a certain extent -translucent pictures, in which architectural fitness was no longer -respected. Composition lost its simplicity. A subject spread from -panel to panel, regardless of the intervening tracery. Nevertheless, -we forget the defects of this luxuriant development, and cease to -wonder at its popularity, in view of that broad and vigorous execution -and beauty of colour which give it a special decorative value of its -own. - - [Illustration: 126. PAINTED GLASS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. HEAD OF - ST. PETER. CATHEDRAL OF CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNE] - -Enamelling is so closely allied to glass-painting as to claim a -word for itself. Here, again, the decorative art of the Middle Ages -was characteristically displayed, and though the process is more -specially applicable to the ornamentation of goldsmith's work than to -the decoration of large surfaces, it is one of the most brilliant and -exquisite of the auxiliary arts. - - [Illustration: 127. PAINTED WINDOW OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. ÉVREUX - CATHEDRAL] - -The earliest enamels are _champlevé_ and _cloisonné_. By the -_champlevé_ process a hollow, the edges of which outlined the -figures or ornaments, was cut in the field or ground of metal for -the reception of the fusible enamel; for _cloisonné_, _cloisons_, or -slender walls of metal were fixed upon the field to separate flesh -from draperies, and one tint generally from another. The background, -the _cloisons_, and the flesh were gilt and burnished; details were -defined by engraved lines, so that the draperies only were enamelled. - - [Illustration: 128. ENAMEL OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. PLAQUE COVER OF A - MS. HEIGHT 4-3/4 IN., WIDTH 2-9/16 IN.] - -Fig. 128 reproduces an enamel of the close of the eleventh century, in -which these various characteristics may be studied. The inscriptions -on either side of the cross are formed by letters vertically -superposed, which read downwards. - -From the beginning of the thirteenth century enamels were executed by -the process known as _taille d'épargne_. By this method the ground -was cut out, as described above, for the reception of the various -ingredients which, after undergoing the process of firing, formed -the enamel; the draperies, hands, and feet of the figures which were -_épargnés_ (_spared_ or left) were modelled and chased in very low -relief; but the central figure, such as the Christ, and the heads of -the subordinate personages or attendant angels, were always in high -relief, vigorously modelled, and chased. - -Fig. 129, a plaque forming the cover of an evangelium, is a -characteristic example of this class of enamel. It dates from the -early thirteenth century, and is a production of the _ateliers_ -founded at Limoges by the monks of Solignac. - - [Illustration: 129. ENAMEL OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. PLAQUE COVER OF - AN EVANGELIUM. HEIGHT 7-2/16 IN., WIDTH 6-11/16 IN.] - -The reliquary figured No. 130 is also a work of the Limousin -enamellers. The methods employed are identical, but the carving of the -figures is less delicate, indeed almost rudimentary, the modelling -being replaced by hasty strokes of the graver. The lower panel of this -reliquary represents the martyrdom of Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of -Canterbury, the upper part his apotheosis. It is crowned by a ridge -roof of two sides. - - [Illustration: 130. ENAMEL OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. RELIQUARY SHRINE - OF ST. THOMAS À BECKET] - -As is well known, Thomas à Becket was canonised two years after his -tragic death, which had aroused general reprobation throughout -Christendom. The universal feeling expressed itself at Limoges by -the manufacture of a great number of reliquaries destined to receive -relics of the sainted martyr. - -In the details of the draperies and hands of those portions of -Fig. 129 which are carved in low relief, we may trace the germs of -those low-relief enamels known as translucent, or to be more exact, -transparent enamels. This process originated in Italy, and was -commonly employed in France, and even in Germany throughout the -fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, more especially the latter. -These enamels could only be executed on gold and silver. The method -consisted in modelling the design in very low relief on the face of -the plate, which was then covered with a transparent enamel of few -colours. The process was a slow and difficult one; the pieces were -consequently very costly, and the demand for them proportionately -restricted. - - [Illustration: 131. ENAMEL OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. OUR LADY OF - SORROWS] - -The enamellers of the sixteenth century, especially those who -flourished at its beginning, were evidently inspired by these -low-relief enamels to seek the same brilliant opalescence of effect -by more scientific and less costly methods. But the simplification of -the process degenerated into vulgarisation, and its original qualities -gradually faded out. Fig. 131, representing Our Lady of Sorrows, and -signed I. C. (Jehan Courteys or Courtois), gives some idea of the -design, at least, of the painted enamels executed by the Limousin -artists of the early sixteenth century. - -Gothic architecture, more especially in its religious manifestations -from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, made its prolific influence -felt, not only by the structural qualities of its vast and numerous -buildings, but by those various arts created, perfected, or at least -developed, for their decoration. We have traced a bare outline of -its activities, regretting that space fails us to make an exhaustive -study of their various manifestations. The priceless fragments which -illustrate these offshoots of an art essentially French are now the -chief ornaments not only of French, but of all European museums. -They take rank as factors of the first importance in art education, -pointing the way to fresh masterpieces of French genius. - - - - - PART II - - MONASTIC ARCHITECTURE - - - - - CHAPTER I - - MONASTIC ARCHITECTURE: ITS ORIGIN - - -The origin of monastic architecture is of no greater antiquity than -the fourth century of the Christian era. The hermits and anchorites of -the earliest period made their habitation in the caves and deserts of -the Thebaïd; their sole monument is the record of their virtues, which -have outlived any buildings they may have raised during their years -of solitude. But the first Christians who banded themselves together -under a common rule, and discarded anchoritism for the cenobitic life, -marked their worldly pilgrimage by monuments, traces of which are -still to be found in historic records or fragmentary remains. - -The history of abbey churches is identical with that of -cathedrals.[43] The architectural evolutions and transformations -which succeeded each other in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries -manifested themselves in both. Like the cathedrals, the abbey churches -were the creation of monkish architects, and were carried out either -under their immediate direction or that of their pupils. - -[43] See Part I., "Religious Architecture." - -But a kindred field of study offers itself in the abbeys themselves, -their organisation and adaptation to the domestic needs of their -be-frocked inmates. - - [Illustration: 132. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. CLOISTER (THIRTEENTH - CENTURY. FROM A DRAWING BY ED. CORROYER)] - -Monastic institutions date from the Roman era. The first abbeys were -those established in France in the fourth century, by St. Hilary of -Poitiers and St. Martin of Tours. These religious associations or -corporations, which eventually became so powerful, by reason not only -of their numbers, but of the spirit which animated them, must be -reckoned as among the most beneficent forces of the Middle Ages. Even -from the philosophical side alone of the religious rule under which -they flourished, by virtue of which enlightened men wielded supreme -power, they were admirable institutions. - -To instance one among many, the so-called _Rule_ of St. Benedict -is in itself a monument, the basis of which is _discipline_, the -coping-stone _labour_. These are principles of undying excellence, for -they are the expression of eternal truths. And from them our modern -economists, who so justly exalt the system of co-operation, might even -in these latter days draw inspiration as useful and as fruitful as -that by which men were guided in the days of Benedict. - -Three great intellectual centres shed their light on the first -centuries of the Middle Ages. These were Lérins, Ireland, and Monte -Casino. Their most brilliant time was from the fourth century to -the reign of Charlemagne, by which period they may be said to have -prepared the way for successive evolutions of human knowledge, by -assiduous cultivation of the sciences and arts, more especially -architecture, in accordance with the immutable laws of development and -progress. - - -_Lérins._--St. Honoratus and his companions, when they landed in the -archipelago, built on the principal island a chapel surrounded by the -cells and buildings necessary for a confraternity. This took place -about 375-390 A.D. The members of the budding community were learned -monks, who had accepted the religious rule which had now become their -law. They instructed neophytes sent them from the mainland, and their -reputation grew so rapidly that Lérins soon took rank as a school of -theology, a seminary or nursery whence the mediæval church chose the -bishops and abbots best fitted to govern her. - -The school of Lérins was so esteemed for learning that it took -an active part in the great Pelagian controversy which agitated -Christendom at the time,[44] and zealously advocated the doctrines of -semi-pelagianism, but this tendency was finally subdued by St. Vincent -of Lérins, whose ideas were more orthodox. The theological teaching of -Lérins seems to have dominated, or at least to have directed religious -opinion in Gaul down to the sixth century. - -[44] _Pelagianism_ was the heresy of the monk Pelagius, who flourished -in the fourth century. He contested the doctrine of original sin, -as imputed to all mankind from the fall of Adam, and taught that -the grace of God is accorded to us in proportion to our merits. -_Semi-pelagianism_ taught that man may begin the work of his own -amelioration, but cannot complete it without Divine help. - - -_Ireland._--So early as the sixth century Ireland was the centre -of art and science in the West. The Irish monks had followed the -oriental tradition as modified by its passage through Scandinavia; -they exercised a considerable influence on continental art by their -manuscripts and illuminations, and prepared the way for the renascence -of the days of Charlemagne, to which such importance was given by the -monuments of the Romanesque movement. - -St. Columba was a monk of the seminary of Clonard in Ireland, -whence towards the close of the sixth century he passed over to -the continent, founding the Abbeys of Luxeuil and Fontaine, near -Besançon, and later that of Bobbio, in Italy, where he died in 615. -His principal work was the _Rule_ prescribed to the Irish monks who -had accompanied him, and those who took the vows of the monasteries he -had founded. In this famous work he did not merely enjoin that love of -God and of the brethren on which his _Rule_ is based; he demonstrated -the utility and beauty of his maxims, which he built upon Scriptural -precepts, and upon fundamental principles of morality. The school -of Luxeuil became one of the most famous of the seventh century, -and, like that of Lérins, the nursery of learned doctors and famous -prelates. - - -_Monte Casino._--In the sixth century St. Benedict preached -Christianity in the south of Italy, where, in spite of Imperial -edicts, Paganism still prevailed among the masses. He built a chapel -in honour of St. John the Baptist on the ruins of a temple of Apollo, -and afterwards founded a monastery to which he gave his _Rule_ in 529. -This was the cradle of the great Benedictine order. - -The number of St. Benedict's disciples grew apace. He had imposed on -them, together with the voluntary obedience and subordination which -constitute _discipline_, those prescriptions of his _Rule_, which -demanded the partition of time between prayer and work. He proceeded -to make a practical application of these principles at Monte Casino, -the buildings of which were raised by himself and his companions. -Barren lands were reclaimed and transformed into gardens for the -community; mills, bakehouses, and workshops for the manufacture of -all the necessaries of life were constructed in the abbey precincts, -with a view to rendering the confraternity self-supporting; auxiliary -buildings were reserved for the reception of the poor and of -travellers. These, however, were so disposed that strangers were kept -outside the main structure, which was reserved exclusively for the -religious body. - -The great merit of St. Benedict, apart from his philosophical -eminence, lies in his comprehension of the doctrine of labour. He was -perhaps the first to teach that useful and intelligent work is one -of the conditions, if not indeed the sole condition, of that moral -perfection to which his followers were taught to aspire. If he had no -further title to fame, this alone should ensure his immortality. - -"The apostles and first bishops were the natural guides of those who -were appointed to build the basilicas in which the faithful met for -worship. When at a later stage they carried the faith to distant -provinces of the empire, they alone were able to indicate or to mark -out with their own hands the lines on which buildings fitted for -the new worship should be raised.... St. Martin superintended the -construction of the oratory of one of the first Gallic monasteries -at Ligujé, and later of that of Marmoutier, near Tours, on the banks -of the Loire. In the reign of Childebert, St. Germain directed the -building of the Abbey of St. Vincent--afterwards re-named St. -Germain-des-Près--in Paris. St. Benedict soon added to his _Rule_ a -decree providing for the teaching and study of architecture, painting, -mosaic, sculpture, and all branches of art; and it became one of the -most important duties of abbots, priors, and deans to make designs for -the churches and auxiliary buildings of the communities they ruled. -From the early centuries of the Christian era down to the thirteenth -century, therefore, architecture was practised only by the clergy, and -came to be regarded as a sacred science. The most ancient plans now -extant--those of St. Gall and of Canterbury--were traced by the monks -Eigenhard and Edwin.... During the eleventh and twelfth centuries -there rose throughout Christendom admirable buildings due to the art -and industry of the monks, who, bringing to bear upon the work their -own researches, and the experience of past generations, received a -fresh stimulus to exertion in this age of universal regeneration, by -the enthusiasm with which their kings inspired them for the vast ruins -of the ninth century."[45] - -[45] Albert Lenoir, _L'Architecture Monastique_; Paris, 1856. - -From the earliest centuries of the Christian era communities both male -and female had been formed with the object of living together under -a religious rule; but it seems evident that the greater number of -monasteries owed their fame and wealth, if not their actual origin, -to the reputation of their relics. These attracted the multitude. -Pilgrimages became so frequent, and pilgrims so numerous, that it was -found necessary to build hospices, or night-refuges, in various towns -on their routes. A confraternity of the _Pilgrims of St. Michael_ was -formed in the beginning of the thirteenth century in Paris, where the -confraternity of _St. James of Pilgrims_ had already built its chapel -and hospital in the Rue St. Denis, near the city gate. - -From the seventh to the ninth century important abbeys flourished -in nearly all the provinces now comprised in modern France. Later, -under the immediate successors of Charlemagne, great monasteries were -founded in all the countries which made up his dominions. Charlemagne -himself had greatly contributed to the development of religious -institutions by his reliance on the bishops, and more especially the -monks who represented progress, supported his policy, and enforced -his civilising mission. But after his death the study of art and -science declined so rapidly that a radical reform became necessary in -the tenth century, a reform which seems to have had its birth in the -Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, established in Burgundy about the year 930. - -From this hasty sketch of monastic organisation some idea may be -gathered of the importance of religious institutions in the eleventh -and twelfth centuries, and of the immense services they had rendered -the State by diligent and useful toil, among the chief fruits of which -must be reckoned the revival of agriculture, and the development of -the sciences and arts, more especially architecture. - -Monastic architecture exercised a great and decisive influence upon -national art by its vast religious buildings, the precursors of our -great cathedrals. - -Until the middle of the twelfth century science, letters, art, -wealth, and above all, intelligence--in other words, omnipotence on -earth--were the monopoly of religious bodies. It is bare historic -justice to remember that the Middle Ages derived their chief title to -fame, and all their intellectual enlightenment, from the abbeys, and -that the great religious houses were in fact schools, the educational -influence of which was immense. It must be borne in mind that if the -great cathedrals of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were not -actually constructed by the monks, their architects were nevertheless -the pupils of monks, and that it was in the abbey schools, so -generously opened to all, that they imbibed the first principles of -the art they afterwards turned to such marvellous account. - -The study of architecture in particular was not merely theoretical. It -was demonstrated by the monks in their important monastic buildings, -the crowning point of which was the abbey church, a structure often -larger and more ornate than contemporary cathedrals. - -On the plan commonly adopted, the cloister, a spreading lawn adorned -with plants, adjoined the church on the north, and sometimes on the -south. An open arcade surrounded the cloister, by means of which -communication with all the necessary domestic offices was provided. -Of these the principal were: the refectory, generally a fine vaulted -hall, close to the kitchens; the _chapter-house_, a building attached -to the church, the upper story of which was the dormitory of the -monks; the vaulted cellars and granaries, above which were the -lodgings provided for strangers; the storerooms were connected with -stables, cattle-stalls, and various outdoor offices, often of great -extent. All these dependencies for the service of the community were -kept strictly separate one from another, thus all necessary measures -were taken to provide for the needs and duties of hospitality without -any disturbance of the religious routine. - -The abbeys of the Romanesque period were largely used as models in -their day. They were modified by lay architects or monkish builders -who, however, were careful to abate nothing of their perfection; they -partook of the developments which marked the middle of the thirteenth -century, and were subjected to that progressive transformation, the -great feature of which was the adoption of the Angevin intersecting -arch, the distinguishing characteristic of Gothic architecture. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - THE ABBEY OF CLUNY--CISTERCIAN ABBEYS - - -The Benedictines, the Cistercians, the Augustinians, the -Premonstrants, and notably the congregation of Cluny were all -energetic builders, and the vast and magnificent structures of their -creation were reckoned the most perfect achievements of their day. The -study of their buildings--the church, the dwelling-places of abbot and -monks, with all their dependencies--is most instructive. It fills us -with admiration for the learning and judgment of the monkish builders -who, accepting the limitations imposed by climate, locality, material, -the numbers of their inmates, and the resources of their order, turned -them all to account as elements of beauty and harmony. - -The architects of the first abbeys undoubtedly adopted the -constructive methods of the period, and built in the Latin, Roman, -or Gallo-Roman manner. The double gateway of the Abbey of Cluny, the -architect of which was probably Gauzon, sometime Abbot of Beaune, -who laid the foundations of the famous monastery, is an interesting -proof of this assertion. But monastic architecture underwent the same -modifications to which ecclesiastical architecture had been subjected -under those various influences which manifested themselves in the -glorious monuments built from the eleventh to the thirteenth century, -when Gothic architecture reached its apogee. - -The abbots of the many abbeys of various orders built throughout -this period were too enlightened to disregard the progress of their -contemporaries, and they promptly applied the new principles to the -construction or embellishment of their monasteries. - - [Illustration: 133. ABBEY OF CLUNY. GATEWAY] - -The Abbey of Cluny was founded in 909 by William, Duke of Aquitaine, -and declared independent by Pope John XI., who in 932 confirmed -the duke's charter. Its rapid development and growth in power is -sufficiently explained by the social and political circumstances of -its origin. At the beginning of the tenth century Norman invasions -and feudal excesses had destroyed the work of Charlemagne. Western -Christendom seemed to lapse into barbarism after the havoc made by -the Saracens and Northern pirates among towns and monasteries. Civil -society and religious institutions had alike fallen into the decay -born of a conflict of rights and a contempt of all authority. - -Cluny rapidly became a centre round which all the intelligence which -had escaped submersion in the chaos of the ninth century grouped -itself. Its school soon attained a distinction equal to that which -marked the first great seats of learning at the beginning of the -Middle Ages. Thanks to the _Rule_ of St. Benedict, on which the -Benedictines of Cluny had grounded their community, the abbey -developed greatly in extent and wealth. Throughout the eleventh and -twelfth centuries it seems to have been the prolific nursery-ground -whence Europe drew not only teachers for other monastic schools, -but specialists in every branch of science and of letters, notably -architects, who aided in the expansion of Cluny and its dependencies, -and further practically contributed to the construction of the -numerous abbeys founded by the Benedictines throughout Western Europe, -and even in the East, the cradle of Christianity. - -While this struggle of intelligence against ignorance was in progress, -a social revolution had accomplished itself by the enfranchisement of -the communes, a development of the utmost importance in its relation -to science, art, and material existence, in a word, to the whole -social system. - -Architecture, that faithful expression of the social state which had -its origin in Pagan civilisation, became Christianised by its culture -in the abbeys, and in its new development rose to that pre-eminence -the marvels of which we have already studied in the first part of this -work. But though the successes achieved by the architecture of this -period were rapid and dazzling, its decadence was profound, for it was -induced by too radical an emancipation from antique principles, the -superiority of which had been established in the first centuries of -the Middle Ages. - -The Abbey of Cluny soon became too small for the increasing number of -monks. St. Hugh undertook its reconstruction in the closing years of -the eleventh century, and the monk Gauzon of Cluny began the works in -1089 on a much more extensive plan, indeed on a scale so magnificent -that the church of the new abbey was esteemed the first in importance -among Western buildings of the kind. - -The plan (Fig. 134) shows the arrangement of the abbey at the close -of the eleventh century, when the monastic buildings had been -reconstructed some time previously. The ancient church was intact; the -choir had been begun in the time of St. Hugh, but the building had not -been consecrated till 1131. The chapel which precedes it on the west -was completed so late as 1228 by Roland I., twentieth abbot of Cluny. - - [Illustration: 134. ABBEY OF CLUNY. PLAN] - -At A on the plan stood the entrance, the Gallo-Roman gateway which -still exists. At B, in front of the church, a flight of steps led -up to a square platform, from which rose a stone cross; a flight of -broad steps gave access to the chapel entrance at C, an open space -between two square towers. The northern tower was built to receive the -archives; that on the south was known as the Tower of Justice. The -ante-church or narthex at D seems to have been set apart for strangers -and penitents, who were not allowed to enter the main building. Their -place of worship was distinct from the abbey church, just as their -lodging was separated from the buildings reserved for the brotherhood, -who were permitted no intercourse with the outer world. At E was the -door of the abbey church, which was only opened to admit some great -personage whose exceptional privilege it was to enter the sanctuary. - -At Cluny, as at Vézelay, one of the dependencies of Cluny, the -Galilee, which is found in all Benedictine abbeys, was built -with aisles and towers on the same scale as an ordinary church. -It communicated with the buildings set apart for guests over the -storehouses of the abbey to the west of the cloister at F on the -plan. From the Galilee access to the abbey church was obtained at -E, by means of a single doorway, which from descriptions seems to -have resembled the great door of the monastery church at Moissac in -arrangement and decoration. - - [Illustration: 135. ABBEY OF CLUNY. INTERIOR OF NARTHEX, WITH DOOR - LEADING INTO ABBEY CHURCH] - -The special characteristic of the Abbey Church of Cluny is its double -transept, an arrangement we shall find reproduced in the great abbey -churches of England, notably at Lincoln. According to a description -written in the last century, the Abbey Church of Cluny was 410 feet -long. It was built in the form of an archiepiscopal cross, and had -two transepts: the first nearly 200 feet long by 30 feet wide; the -second, 110 feet long and wider than the first. The basilica, 110 -feet in width, was divided into five aisles, with semi-circular -vaults supported on sixty-eight piers. Over three hundred narrow -round-headed windows, high up the wall, transmitted the dim light that -favours meditation. The high altar was placed immediately beyond the -second transept at G, and the retro-choir and altar at H. The choir, -which had two rood screens, occupied about a third of the nave. It -contained two hundred and twenty-five stalls for the monks, and in -the fifteenth century was hung with magnificent tapestries. A number -of altars dedicated to various saints were placed against the screens -and the piers of nave and side aisles. At a later period chapels were -constructed along the aisles and on the eastern sides of the two -transepts. - -Above the principal transept rose three towers roofed with slate; the -central, or lantern tower was known as the lamp tower, because from -the vaults of the crossing below it were suspended lamps, or coronas -of lights which were kept burning day and night over the high altar. - -To the south of the abbey, at F on the plan, was a great enclosure, -surrounded by a cloister, some vestiges of which still remain. K and -L mark the site of the abbatial buildings which were restored in the -fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; M and N the structures raised last -century over the primitive foundations. To the east lay the gardens -and the great fish-ponds which still exist, with portions of their -enclosures. Another surviving fragment is a building of the thirteenth -century, said to be the bakery, and marked O on the plan. - -The abbots who succeeded St. Hugh were unable to preserve the -primitive conditions of the foundation. The excessive luxury resulting -from over-prosperity brought about demoralisation, and by the end of -the eleventh century discord was rife at Cluny. - -Peter the Venerable, who was elected abbot in 1112, restored order -for a time, and established a chapter general, consisting of two -hundred priors and over twelve hundred other monks. In 1158, at the -time of Peter's death, these numbers had increased by more than four -hundred, and the order had founded monasteries in the Holy Land and at -Constantinople. - - -_The Abbey of Citeaux._--The reform of the Benedictine orders became -a pressing necessity, and St. Robert, Abbot of Solesmes, entered upon -the task about 1098. St. Bernard continued it, after having quitted -his abbey, with twenty-one monks of the order, to take refuge in -the forest of Citeaux, given him by Don Reynard, Vicomte of Beaune. -His main achievement was reorganisation of such a nature as to deal -effectually with the decay of primitive simplicity throughout the -order, which had completely lost touch with monastic sentiment. - -"Frequent intercourse with the outside world had demoralised the -monks, who attracted within their cloister walls crowds of sightseers, -guests, and pilgrims. The monasteries which, down to the eleventh -century, were either built in the towns, or had become centres of -population in consequence of the Norman and Saracen invasions, -retained their character of religious seclusion only for a certain -number of monks, who devoted themselves to intellectual labours. -Besides which, the brethren had become feudal lords, holding -jurisdiction side by side with the bishops, and St. Germain-des-Près, -St. Denis, St. Martin, Vendôme, and Moissac owned no over-lordships -but that of the Pope. Hence arose temporal cares, disputes, and even -armed conflicts, among them. The greed and vanity of the abbots at -least, if not of their monks, made itself felt even in religious -worship, and in the buildings consecrated thereto."[46] - -[46] Anthyme St. Paul, _Histoire Monumentale de la France_. - -St. Bernard, in an address to the monks of his day, reproves their -degeneracy, and censures the exaggerated dimensions of the abbey -churches, the splendour of their ornamentation, and the luxury of -the abbots. O vanity of vanities! he exclaims, and folly great as -vanity! The Church is bedecked in her walls, but naked in her poor! -She overlays her stones with gold, and leaves her children without -raiment! The curious are given distractions, and the miserable lack -bread! It was to suppress such abuses that the Cistercian order was -founded by St. Robert and St. Bernard, and also to put an end to -the disputes arising from ecclesiastical jurisdiction by making the -new abbeys dependencies of the bishoprics. They were to be built in -solitary places, "and to nourish their inmates by agriculture. It -was forbidden to found them over the tombs of saints, for fear of -attracting pilgrims, who would bring worldly distractions in their -train. The buildings themselves were to be solid, and built of good -freestone, but without any sort of extraneous ornament; the only -towers allowed were small belfries, sometimes of stone, but more -usually of wood."[47] - -[47] _Ibid._ - -The Cistercian order was founded in 1119, and St. Robert imposed -the _Rule_ of St. Benedict in its primitive severity. To mark his -separation from the degenerate Benedictines, whose dress was black, he -gave his monks a brown habit. After determining their religious duties -he gave minute instructions as to the arrangement of the buildings. -The condition chiefly insisted upon was that the site of the monastery -should be of such extent and so ordered that the necessaries of life -could be provided within its precincts. Thus all causes of distraction -through communication with the outside world were removed. The -monasteries, whenever possible, were to be built beside a stream or -river; they were to contain, independently of the claustral buildings, -the church and the abbot's dwelling, which was outside the principal -enclosure, a mill, a bakehouse, and workshops for the manufacture of -all things requisite to the community, besides gardens for the use and -pleasure of the monks. - -The Abbey of Clairvaux was an embodiment of the reforms brought about -by St. Robert, and later by St. Bernard. The general arrangement and -the details of service were almost identical with those of Citeaux, -just as Citeaux itself had been modelled upon Cluny in all respects, -save that a severe observance of the primitive Benedictine rule -was insisted upon in the disposition of the later foundation. All -superfluities were proscribed, and the rules which enjoined absolute -seclusion as a means towards moral perfection were sternly enforced. - -The result is undoubtedly interesting as a religious revival; but we -may be permitted to regret that the intellectual impetus given to art -progress by the great Benedictine lords spiritual of Cluny should have -been checked by the frigid utilitarianism to which architecture--then -an epitome of all the arts--was reduced by the purists of Citeaux in -its application to the monasteries of the reform. - -The Cistercian monuments are not, however, wanting in interest. - -Of Clairvaux and Citeaux little remains but fragments embedded in -a mass of modern buildings, for the most part restorations of the -last century. As records these are less to be relied upon than the -historical and archæological documents which guided Viollet-le-Duc -in his graphic reconstruction of famous Cistercian abbeys, an essay -not to be bettered as a piece of lucid demonstration (see his -_Dictionary_, vol. i. pp. 263-271). - - - - - CHAPTER III - - ABBEYS AND CARTHUSIAN MONASTERIES - - -In the eleventh century a large number of monasteries had been built -throughout Western Europe by monks of various orders, in imitation -of the great monastic schools of Lérins, Ireland, and Monte Casino. -Among the famous abbeys of this period may be mentioned "Vézelay and -Fécamp, sometime convents for women, afterwards converted into abbeys -for men; St. Nicaise, at Rheims; Nogent-sous-Coucy, in Picardy; Anchin -and Annouain, in Artois; St. Étienne, at Caen; St. Pierre-sur-Dives, -Le Bec, Conches, Cerisy-la-Forêt,[48] and Lessay, in Normandy; La -Trinité, at Vendôme; Beaulieu, near Loches; Montierneuf, at Poitiers, -etc."[49] - -[48] _L'Architecture Romane_, by Ed. Corroyer, chap. iii. part ii. - -[49] Anthyme St. Paul, _Histoire Monumentale de la France_. - -The Abbeys of Fulda, in Hesse, and of Corvey, in Westphalia, the -latter founded by Benedictine monks from the Abbey of Corbie, in -Picardy, were in their day the chief centres of learning in Germany. - -In England St. Alban's Abbey, in Hertfordshire, was built in 1077 by a -disciple of Lanfranc, the illustrious abbot of the famous Abbey of Le -Bec, in Normandy. A large number of monasteries were founded later -on by various orders, notably the Benedictines--Croyland, Malmesbury, -Bury St. Edmund's, Peterborough, Salisbury, Wimborne, Wearmouth, -Westminster, etc., not to mention the abbeys and priories which had -existed in Ireland from the sixth century. - - [Illustration: 136. ABBEY OF ST. ÉTIENNE AT CAEN. FAÇADE] - -The mother abbey of Citeaux gave birth to four daughters--Clairvaux, -Pontigny, Morimond, and La Ferté. - -The importance of Clairvaux was much increased in the first years -of the twelfth century by the fame of her abbot, St. Bernard, that -most brilliant embodiment of mediæval monasticism. His influence was -immense, not alone in his character of reformer and founder of an -important order, but as a statesman whom fortune persistently favoured -in all enterprises tending to the increase of his great reputation. - -St. Bernard distinguished himself in the theological controversies -of his century at the Council of Sens in 1140, and in successful -polemical disputations with Abélard, the famous advocate of free will, -and other heterodox philosophers who heralded the Reformation of the -sixteenth century. Somewhat later he took an active part in promoting -the hapless second Crusade under Louis VII., and in 1147, a few years -before his death, he entered vigorously into the Manichæan controversy -as a strenuous opponent of the heresy which was then agitating the -public mind and preparing the way for the schism which, at the -beginning of the thirteenth century, brought about the terrible war of -the Albigenses, and steeped Southern France in blood. - -The monastic fame of St. Bernard was established not only by the -searching reforms he instituted at Clairvaux among the seceding monks -of Cluny and Solesmes, but by the success of the Cistercian colonies -he planted in Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Denmark, to the number of -seventy-two, according to his historians. - - [Illustration: 137. ST. ALBAN'S ABBEY (ENGLAND)] - - [Illustration: 138. ABBEY OF MONTMAJOUR (PROVENCE). CLOISTERS] - -During his lifetime the poor hermitage of the _Vallée d'Absinthe_ -(which name he changed to Claire-Vallée, Clairvaux) had become a vast -feudal settlement of many farms and holdings, rich enough to support -more than seven hundred monks. The monastery was surrounded by walls -more than half a league in extent, and the abbot's domicile had become -a seignorial mansion. As the fount of the order, and mother of all -the auxiliary houses, Clairvaux was supreme over a hundred and sixty -monasteries in France and abroad. Fifty years after the death of St. -Bernard the importance of the order had become colossal. During -the thirteenth century, and from that time onwards, the Cistercian -or Bernardine monks built immense abbeys, and decorated them with -royal magnificence. Their establishments contained churches equal in -dimension to the largest cathedrals of the period, abbatial dwellings -adorned with paintings, and boasting oratories which, as at Chaâlis, -were _Stes. Chapelles_ as splendid as that of St. Louis in Paris. The -very cellars held works of art in the shape of huge casks elaborately -carved. - - [Illustration: 139. CHURCH AT ELNE IN ROUSSILLON. CLOISTERS] - -Thus, by a strange recurrence of conditions, the settlements founded -on a basis of the most rigorous austerity by the ascetics who had -fled from the splendours of Solesmes and Cluny to the forest, became -in their turn vaster, richer, and more sumptuous than those the -magnificence of which they existed to rebuke. With this difference, -however: the ruin brought about by the luxury of the Cistercian -establishment was so complete that nothing of their innumerable -monasteries was spared by social revolution but a few archæologic -fragments and historic memories. - - [Illustration: 140. ABBEY OF FONTFROIDE (LANGUEDOC). CLOISTERS] - -The influence of the Cistercian foundation extended to various -countries of Europe. It was manifested in Spain, at the great Abbey of -Alcobaco, in Estramadura, said to have been built by monkish envoys -of St. Bernard; in Sicily, in the rich architectural detail of the -Abbey of Monreale; and in Germany, in the foundation of such abbeys -as those of Altenberg in Westphalia, and Maulbronn in Wurtemberg. In -1133 Everard, Count of Berg, invited monks of Citeaux to settle in -his dominions, and in 1145 they founded a magnificent abbey on the -banks of the Dheen, which was held by the Cistercian order down to the -period of the Revolution, when it shared the fate of other religious -houses. - -The Cistercian Abbey of Maulbronn is the best preserved of those -which owed their origin to St. Bernard throughout the twelfth and -thirteenth centuries. The abbey church, the cloister, the refectory, -the chapter-house, the cellars, the storerooms, the barns, and the -abbot's lodging, the latter united to the other buildings by a covered -gallery, still exist in their original condition. More manifestly -even than Altenberg does the Abbey of Maulbronn prove that simplicity -marked the proceedings of the Benedictines during the first years -of the twelfth century, under the rule or influence of St. Bernard. -From this period onward Cistercian brotherhoods multiplied with great -rapidity in the provinces which were to form modern France. - -In the Ile-de-France the ruins of Ourscamp, near Noyon, of Chaâlis, -near Senlis, of Longpont and of Vaux-de-Cernay, near Paris, bear -witness to the monumental grandeur of once famous and important -abbeys. The monasteries and priories of the twelfth century are -numerous in Provence; we may name Sénanque, Silvacane, Thoronet, and -Montmajour, near Arles, at the extremity of the valley of Les Baux. -Among the abbeys founded in the thirteenth century were Royaumont, -in the Ile-de-France; Vaucelles, near Cambrai; Preuilly-en-Brie; -La Trappe, in Le Perche; Breuil-Benoît, Mortemer, and Bonport, in -Normandy; Boschaud, in Périgord; l'Escale-Dieu, in Bigorre; Les -Feuillants, Nizors, and Bonnefont, in Comminges; Granselve and -Baulbonne, near Toulouse; Floran, Valmagne, and Fontfroide, in -Languedoc; Fontenay, in Burgundy, etc. - - [Illustration: 141. CISTERCIAN ABBEY OF MAULBRONN (WURTEMBERG). PLAN] - -Towards the close of the eleventh and the beginning of the twelfth -century other fraternities had been formed in the same spirit as -that of Citeaux; "in the first rank of these was the Order of the -Premonstrants, so named from the mother abbey founded in 1119 by St. -Norbert at Prémontré, near Coucy."[50] - -[50] Anthyme St. Paul, _Histoire Monumentale de la France_. - -To this order the monastery of St. Martin at Laon, and others in -Champagne, Artois, Brittany, and Normandy owed their origin. - - [Illustration: 142. ABBEY OF FONTEVRAULT. KITCHEN] - - [Illustration: 143. CATHEDRAL OF PUY-EN-VELAY. CLOISTERS] - -In the early part of the twelfth century Robert d'Arbrisselles founded -several double monasteries for men and women, on the model of those -built in Spain in the ninth century; that of Fontevrault was not -more successful as a monastic experiment than the rest, but it gave -rise to a number of superb buildings. The abbey itself contributed -in no slight degree to the progress of architecture, which developed -in Anjou at the dawn of the twelfth century, and manifested itself -principally at Angers in works the supreme importance of which we have -dwelt upon in the early part of this volume. - -The episcopal churches also owned claustral buildings for the -accommodation of the cathedral clergy who lived together in -communities according to the ancient usage which obtained down to the -fifteenth century. The Cathedrals of Aix, Arles, and Cavaillon, in -Provence, of Elne, in Roussillon, of Puy, in Velay, of St. Bertrand, -in Comminges, still preserve their cloisters of the twelfth century. - -The Abbey of La Chaise Dieu, in Auvergne, founded in the eleventh -century, was one of the monastic schools which rose to great -importance, mainly through the talents of its monkish architect and -sculptor, Guinamaud, who established its reputation as an art centre. -By the close of the twelfth century La Chaise Dieu was turning out -proficients in sculpture, painting, and goldsmith's work. - -The buildings of La Chaise Dieu were reconstructed in the thirteenth -and fourteenth centuries. - -The order of preaching friars, founded by St. Dominic in the early -part of the thirteenth century, is noted rather for its intellectual -than for its architectural achievements; the fame of the Dominicans -rests upon their preaching and writings, not upon the number or -magnificence of their monasteries. - -About the same period St. Francis of Assisi founded the order of minor -friars, who professed absolute poverty--a profession which, however, -did not prevent their becoming richer at last than their forerunners. -These two orders--preaching and mendicant friars, apparently formed -in protest against the supremacy of the Benedictines--were strongly -supported by St. Louis, who also protected other orders, such as the -Augustinians and Carmelites, by way of balancing the power of the -Clunisians and Cistercians. - - [Illustration: 144. ABBEY OF LA CHAISE DIEU (AUVERGNE). CLOISTERS] - -To the preaching friars St. Louis granted the site of the Church of -St. Jacques, in the Rue St. Jacques, Paris--whence the name _Jacobin_ -as applied to monks of the Dominican order,--and here they built in -1221 the Jacobin monastery, the church of which, like those of Agen -and Toulouse, has the double nave peculiar to the churches of the -preaching friars. - -From the thirteenth century onwards the arrangement of the abbeys -diverges more and more from the Benedictine system in the direction -of secular models. The daily life of the abbots had come to -differ but little from that of the laymen of their time, and as a -natural consequence, monastic architecture lost its distinguishing -characteristics. - -The Rule of the Carthusian Order, founded towards the close of the -eleventh century by St. Bruno, was of such extreme austerity, and -was so persistently adhered to down to the fifteenth century, at -least, that we need not wonder to find no vestiges of buildings -erected by this community contemporaneously with those of other great -foundations. The Carthusians clung longer than any of their brethren -to the vows of poverty and humility which obliged them to live like -anchorites, though dwelling under one roof. Far from living in common, -on the cenobitic method, after the manner of the Benedictines and -Cistercians, they maintained the cellular system in all its severity. -Absolute silence further aggravated the complete isolation which -encouraged them to scorn all that might alleviate or modify the -rigours of their religious duties. - -In time, however, the Carthusians relaxed something of this extreme -asceticism in their monastic buildings, if not in their religious -observances. Towards the fifteenth century they did homage to art by -the construction of monasteries which, though falling short of the -Cistercian monuments in magnificence, are of much interest from their -peculiarities of arrangement. - -The ordinary buildings comprised the gate-house, giving access by a -single door to the courtyard of the monastery, where stood the church, -the prior's lodging, the hostelry for guests and pilgrims, the -laundry, the bakehouse, the cattle sheds, storerooms, and dovecote. -The church communicated with an interior cloister, giving access to -the chapter-house and refectory, which latter were only open to the -monks at certain annual festivals. The typical feature of St. Bruno's -more characteristic monasteries is the great cloister, on the true -Carthusian model--that is to say, rectangular in form, and surrounded -by an arcade, on which the cells of the monks open. Each of these -cells was a little self-contained habitation, and had its own garden. -The door of each cell was provided with a wicket, through which a lay -brother passed the slender meal of the Carthusian who was forbidden to -communicate with his fellows. - -The Rule of St. Bruno, as is commonly known, enjoins the life of an -anchorite; the Carthusian must work, eat, and drink in solitude; -speech is interdicted; on meeting, the brethren are commanded to -salute each other in silence; they assemble only in church for certain -services prescribed by the Rule, and their meals, none too numerous at -any time, were only taken in common on certain days in the year. - -The severity of these conditions explains the extreme austerity of -Carthusian architecture. It had, as we have already said, no real -development until the fifteenth century, and then only as regards -certain portions of the monastery, such as the church and its -cloister, which were in strong contrast with the compulsory bareness -of the great cloister of the monks. - -The ancient _Chartreuse_ of Villefranche de Rouergue, either built -or reconstructed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, still -preserves some remarkable features. The plan, and the bird's-eye view -(Figs. 145 and 146) from _L'Encyclopédie de l'Architecture et de la -Construction_, gives an exact idea of the monastery. Some of the cells -are still intact, also the refectory, and certain other portions of -the primitive structure. - - [Illustration: 145. CHARTREUSE OF VILLEFRANCHE DE ROUERGUE. PLAN] - -In spite of the rigidity of the _Rule_ of St. Bruno certain -foundations of his order became famous, notably the monastery -established by the Carthusians on the invitation of St. Louis in the -celebrated castle of Vauvert, beyond the walls of Paris, near the -_Route d'Issy_. The castle was regarded with terror by the Parisians, -who declared it to be haunted by the devil, whence the popular -expression: _aller au diable Vauvert_, which later was corrupted -into _aller au diable au vert_. The Carthusians, nevertheless, took -up their quarters in the stronghold, and enriched it with a splendid -church built by Pierre de Montereau, the foundation stone of which -was laid by St. Louis in 1260. The _Chartreuse_ of Vauvert developed -greatly, and became one of the most famous of the order. It was in -the lesser cloister of this monastery that the artist Eustache Le -Sueur painted his famous frescoes from the life of St. Bruno in the -beginning of the seventeenth century. - - [Illustration: 146. CHARTREUSE OF VILLEFRANCHE DE ROUERGUE. - BIRD'S-EYE VIEW] - - [Illustration: 147. GRANDE CHARTREUSE. THE GREAT CLOISTER] - -The most famous Carthusian monasteries of Italy are those of Florence, -which dates from the middle of the fourteenth century, and is -attributed in part to Orcagna, and of Pavia, founded at the close of -the fourteenth century by Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti. - - [Illustration: 148. GRANDE CHARTREUSE. GENERAL VIEW] - -The French Carthusian monasteries of greatest interest after Vauvert, -which had the special advantage of royal protection, are those of -Clermont, in Auvergne, Villefranche de Rouergue (Figs. 145 and 146), -Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, and Montrieux, in Var. The _Chartreuse_ of -Dijon is one of the most ancient, not only as to its buildings, which -are the work of the Duke of Burgundy's architects, but in respect of -its famous sculptures of the tomb of Philip the Bold, and his wife, -Margaret of Flanders, and those of the _Well of Moses_, carved by the -Burgundian brothers, Claux Suter, who flourished at the close of the -fourteenth century, and had much to do with the revival of art at that -period.[51] - -[51] See Part I., "Sculpture." - -But the most imposing of all, and the most famous, if not the most -beautiful, is that in the mountains near Grenoble, universally known -as _La Grande Chartreuse_. - -The original monastery is said to have been founded by St. Bruno. It -consisted merely of a humble chapel and a few isolated cells, which -are supposed to have occupied the site in the _Desert_, on which the -Chapels of St. Bruno and St. Mary now stand. The existing buildings -were reconstructed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the -manner of the day, of which the arcades of the great cloister are good -examples. The present church, which is extremely simple in design, has -preserved nothing of its sixteenth-century decoration but the choir -stalls. The great cloister consists of an arcaded gallery, on which -the sixty cells of the monks open. It is arranged in strict accordance -with the Rule of St. Bruno as regards its connection with the main -buildings, the chief features of which we have already pointed out. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - FORTIFIED ABBEYS - - -The monasteries built throughout the twelfth century were provided -with outer walls, by means of which the claustral buildings, offices, -workshops, and even farms of the community were enclosed. Thus all -the necessaries of life were produced within the precincts, and all -communication with the outside world was avoided. - -But by the end of the century the great abbeys had become feudal -castles; and fortified walls were raised around them, often embracing -the town which had grown up under their protection and shared their -fortunes. This was the case at Cluny, and the town acknowledged its -obligations to the monks by the payment of tithes. - -In the reign of Philip Augustus and St. Louis the abbots were not -only the heads of their monasteries but feudal chieftains, vassals -of the royal power, and as such obliged to furnish the sovereign -with men-at-arms in time of war, and to maintain a garrison when -required.[52] - -[52] See Part III., "Military Architecture," Abbey of Mont St. Michel. - -The Abbey of Tournus was, like Cluny, surrounded by walls connected -with the city ramparts. - -The Abbey of St. Allyre, in Auvergne, near Clermont, was defended -by walls and towers, which seem to have been added to the original -structure of the ninth century at some period during the thirteenth, -when such fortification of religious houses became necessary. - - [Illustration: 149. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. GENERAL VIEW FROM THE - ROCKS OF COUESNON, TAKEN IN 1878, BEFORE THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DYKE] - -In many other monasteries a system of defence more or less elaborate -was adopted; but the most famous of all the abbeys built by the -Benedictines was unquestionably Mont St. Michel, which, for boldness -and grandeur of design, is unique among military and monastic -monuments from the eleventh to the close of the fifteenth century. - - [Illustration: 150. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. PLAN AT THE LEVEL OF THE - GUARD-ROOM, ALMONRY, AND CELLAR - - _Key to Plan._--A. Tower known as the _Tour Claudine_. Ramparts. - B. Barbican. Entrance to the abbey. B´. Ruin of the stairway - known as the _Grand Degré_. C. Gate-house. D. Guard-room known - as _Bellechaise_. E. Tower known as the _Tour Perrine_. F. - Steward's lodging and Bailey. G. Abbot's lodging. G´. Abbatial - buildings. G´´. Chapel of St. Catherine. H. Courtyard of the - church, great stairway. I. Courtyard of the _Merveille_. J, - K. Almonry, cellar (of the _Merveille_). L. Formerly the - abbatial buildings. M. Gallery or crypt known as the _Galerie - de l'Aquilon_ (of the North Wind). N. Hostelry (Robert de - Thorigni). O. Passages connecting the abbey with the hostelry. - P, P´. Prison and dungeon. R, S. Staircase. T. Modern wall of - abutment. U. Garden, terraces, and covered way. V. Body of rock.] - - [Illustration: 151. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. PLAN AT THE LEVEL OF - THE LOWER CHURCH, THE REFECTORY, AND THE CHAPTER-HOUSE, OR KNIGHTS' - HALL.--_For Key to Plan see opposite page._ - - _Key to Plan._--A. Lower church. B, B´. Chapels beneath the - transepts. C. Substructure of Romanesque nave. C, C´, and C´´. - Charnel-house or burying-place of the monks, and substructure - of south platform. D. Formerly the cistern. E. Formerly the - claustral buildings. Refectory. F. Formerly the cloister or - ambulatory. G. Passage communicating with the hostelry. H, - I. Hostelry and offices (Robert de Thorigni). J. Chapel of - hostelry (St. Étienne). K, K´, L, M. Refectory. Tower known - as the _Tour des Corbins_ (Tower of Crows). Chapter-house, or - hall of the knights, Galilee or narthex (_Merveille_). N. Hall - of the military executive, or hall of the officers. O. Tower - known as the _Tour Perrine_. P. Battlements of the gate-house. - Q. Courtyard of the _Merveille_. R, S. Staircase and terrace - of the apse. T. Courtyard of the church. U. Fortified bridge - connecting the lower church with the abbey buildings. V, X. - Abbot's lodging. Accommodation for guests. Y, Y´. Cisterns of - the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Z. Body of rock.] - -The Abbey of Mont St. Michel was founded in 708 by St. Aubert, -according to tradition. At the close of the tenth century it was -restored by Richard Sans Peur, third Duke of Normandy, with the help -of the Benedictine monks from Monte Casino, whom he had installed at -St. Michel in 966. It increased greatly in wealth and extent in the -eleventh century, and by the end of the twelfth was in the full tide -of its prosperity. Its buildings, however had not yet that importance -to which they attained in the following century.[53] In the twelfth -century they consisted of the church, which was built between 1020 -and 1135[54] and the monastic buildings proper (_lieux réguliers_), -with lodgings for servants and guests to the north of the nave, at -G, G´, and F on the plan, Fig. 152. To these, which were restored -or reconstructed in a great measure by the Abbot Roger II. at the -beginning of the twelfth century, additions were made on the south and -south-east by Robert de Thorigni from 1154 to 1186. - -The monastery was not then fortified. - -[53] _Description de l'Abbaye du Mont St. Michel_, by Ed. Corroyer; -Paris, 1877. This work was crowned by the Institute in 1879, at the -_Concours des Antiquités Nationales_. - -[54] See _L'Architecture Romane_, by Ed. Corroyer; Paris, Maison -Quantin, 1888. - - [Illustration: 152. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. PLAN AT THE LEVEL OF THE - UPPER CHURCH, THE CLOISTERS, AND THE DORMITORY - - _Key to Plan._--A, A´, A.´´ Church, choir, and transepts. B, - B´, B´´. Three first bays of nave, destroyed in 1776. C, C´, - C´´. Towers and porch (Robert de Thorigni). D. Tomb of Robert - de Thorigni. E. Formerly the terrace in front of the church. - F. Formerly the chapter-house. G, G´. Formerly the claustral - buildings. Dormitory. H. Platform at the southern entrance - of the church. I. Ruin of the hostelry (Robert de Thorigni). - J. Infirmary. K. Dormitories of the thirteenth century - (_Merveille_). K´. Tower, known as the _Tour des Corbins_ - (thirteenth century, _Merveille_). L, L´. Cloister and archives - (thirteenth century, _Merveille_). M. Vestry (thirteenth - century, _Merveille_). N. Abbot's lodging. O. Accommodation for - guests. P. Courtyard of the _Merveille_. P´. Terrace of the - apse. Q. Courtyard of the church and great staircase.] - -Built on the summit of a rock, the impregnable steepness of which -provided a natural rampart north and west, it depended solely upon -the advantages of its position for defence. Its situation in the -midst of a treacherous sandy plain--a position which gave rise to the -mediæval name, _Le Mont St. Michel au Péril de la Mer_--secured it -against attempts at investiture, and even to a great extent against -sudden assaults. Enclosures of stone or wooden fences surrounded it at -those points on the east where the less rugged nature of the surface -rendered access comparatively easy, and where stood the entrance, -with the various habitations which had grouped themselves round it. -The so-called _town_ had been founded in the tenth century by a few -families decimated by the Normans, in their raids upon Avranches and -its neighbourhood after the death of Charlemagne. In the thirteenth -century it consisted of a small number of houses which, by way of -security against the vagaries of the sea, were built upon the highest -point of the rock to the east. - -In 1203 the greater part of the abbey, the church excepted, was -destroyed during the wars between Philip Augustus, King of France, and -John, King of England. - -Historic records prove conclusively that the abbey had no defensive -works properly so-called in the twelfth and early part of the -thirteenth century. - -From this period onwards abbeys, more especially those of the -Benedictine orders, were transformed into regular fortresses capable -of sustaining a siege. The abbots, in their character of feudal lords, -fortified their monasteries to ensure them against disasters such as -had marked the early years of the thirteenth century. Mont St. Michel -is one of the most curious examples of such fortification. - -The original architects of the abbey seem to have been unwilling to -diminish the height of the mount by levelling. Resolving to detract in -no degree from the majesty of so splendid a base for their church, -they set about their work on the same principle as the pyramid -builders. Our illustrations show how the buildings were raised partly -on plateaux circumscribing the apex of the mount, partly on that apex -itself. The result is that the monastery, as we see it, has a core of -rock rising at its highest point to the very floor of the church. The -ring of lower stories rests upon walls of great thickness, and upon -piers united by vaults, the whole forming a substructure of perfect -solidity. - -The section made through the transept (Fig. 153) gives an exact idea -of the portion which dates from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, -and of the buildings which gradually grouped themselves round this -nucleus, such as the so-called _Merveille_ (Marvel) to the north, and -the abbot's lodging to the south. - - [Illustration: 153. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. TRANSVERSE SECTION, FROM - NORTH TO SOUTH[55]] - -[55] _Description de l'Abbaye du Mont St. Michel et de ses Abords_, by -Ed. Corroyer; Paris, 1877. - - [Illustration: 154. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. LONGITUDINAL SECTION, - FROM WEST TO EAST] - -The longitudinal section (Fig. 154) shows the crypt, or lower church. -This was not, as has been frequently asserted, actually hollowed -out of the rock; it was, however, very ingeniously contrived in the -fifteenth century over the ruins of the Romanesque church in the -space between the declivity of the mount and the artificial plateau -of the earlier architects. The substructures of the Romanesque church -which were enlarged by Robert de Thorigni in the thirteenth century -are indicated in this diagram. They are of gigantic proportions, -especially towards the west. - -Fig. 155 shows the so-called _Galerie de l'Aquilon_ (Gallery of the -North Wind), one of the upper stories of the claustral buildings to -the north of the church constructed by Roger II., eleventh abbot -(1106-1122). - - [Illustration: 155. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. GALERIE DE L'AQUILON - (GALLERY OF THE NORTH WIND)] - - [Illustration: 156. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL, NORTH FRONT. GENERAL - VIEW FROM THE SEA] - - [Illustration: 157. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. THE ALMONRY. PERSPECTIVE - VIEW LOOKING WEST. THE CELLAR BEYOND] - -After the fire of 1203, when the abbey had become a feof of the royal -domain, the Abbot Jourdain and his successors rebuilt it almost -entirely, with the exception of the church. - -As the peculiarities of the site made it impossible to adhere strictly -to the Benedictine system of direct communication between the main -buildings and the church, the _lieux réguliers_, or accommodation -reserved for the monks, were disposed above the magnificent building -to the north of the church, which, from the time of its foundation, -was known as _La Merveille_ (the Marvel). - - [Illustration: 158. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. NAMES OF THE ARCHITECTS - OR SCULPTORS OF THE CHOIR] - - [Illustration: 159. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. CELLAR. PERSPECTIVE VIEW - FROM WEST TO EAST. THE ALMONRY BEYOND] - -This vast structure fairly takes rank as the grandest example of -combined religious and military architecture of the finest mediæval -period. - -The _Merveille_ consists of three stories, two of which are vaulted. -The lowest contains the almonry and cellar; the intermediate story -the refectory and the knights' hall; the third the dormitory and -cloister. The building consists of two wings running east and west; -the apartments are superposed as follows:--In the east wing the -almonry, the refectory, and the dormitory; in the west the cellar, the -knights' hall, and the cloister.[56] - -[56] _Description de l'Abbaye du Mont St. Michel et de ses Abords_, by -Ed. Corroyer; Paris, 1877. - -This splendid structure is built entirely of granite. It was carried -out by one continuous effort, under the inspiration of an incomparably -bold and learned design of the Abbé Jourdain, to which his successors -religiously adhered. - -The undertaking was entered upon in 1203 and finished in 1228, the -final achievement being the cloister, the architects or sculptors of -which are commemorated by an inscription in the spandril of one of the -arcades in the south walk. - - [Illustration: 160. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. REFECTORY] - - [Illustration: 161. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. CHAPTER-HOUSE, CALLED - THE HALL OF THE KNIGHTS] - -To fully appreciate this stupendous monument, we must realise the -extraordinary energy which enabled its architects to complete it in -the comparatively short space of twenty-five years. We must take -into account the conditions of its growth, its situation on the very -summit of a rugged cliff, cut off from the mainland at times by -the sea, at other times by an expanse of treacherous quicksand. We -must consider the enormous difficulties of transporting materials, -seeing that all the granite used was quarried by the monks from the -neighbouring coast. It is true that an unimportant quota of the stone -was dug from the base of the rock itself. But though the passage -across the sands was by this means avoided, the difficulties of -raising great masses of stone to the foot of the _Merveille_, the -foundations of which are over 160 feet above the sea-level, had still -to be met. It seems certain that the east and west buildings of which -the _Merveille_ consists were built at the same time, for though -certain differences are perceptible in the form of the exterior -buttresses, they evidently result from the interior formation of the -various apartments. A study of the plans, sections, and façades of the -buildings is convincing on this head, and the general arrangements, -notably that of the staircase, all point to the same conclusion. This -staircase is a spiral in the thickness of the buttress which, with its -crowning octagonal turret, forms the point of junction between the two -buildings. It winds from the almonry of the eastern ground-floor to -the knights' hall on the west, passing through the dormitory of the -eastern block to terminate in the northern embattlement above. - - [Illustration: 162. ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT, CORNWALL] - -The eastern and northern façades of the _Merveille_ are models of -severe and virile beauty; a massive grandeur characterises them, -especially striking and impressive in the northern front as viewed -from the sea. The vast walls of granite (the material used throughout, -save in the inner walk of the cloister) are pierced with windows -varying in shape according to the character of the rooms they light. -Those of the dormitory are very remarkable. They are long and narrow, -and affect the aspect of loopholes, deeply splayed outwards; the -peculiar form of the honeycombed window-heads suggests a reminiscence -of Arab types seen by the French Crusaders in Palestine. The -thrusts of the interior vaulting are met on the exterior by massive -buttresses, the vigorous profiles of which contribute greatly to the -nobility of the general effect. - -These formidable façades were practically fortifications, but the -_Merveille_ was further defended to the north by an embattled wall, -flanked by a tower which served as a post for watchmen, to which the -covered ways running round the base of the western buildings converged. - -In the middle, on a level with the north-west angle of the -_Merveille_, a _châtelet_, or miniature keep, now destroyed, guarded -the rugged passage between embattled walls which led to the Fountain -of St. Aubert, and was known as the _Passage du Degré_ (passage of the -stairway). - -The various buildings of the abbey which were added in the fourteenth -century, after the construction of the _Merveille_, are: the abbot's -lodging, with its offices on the south, and certain military works -which completed the defensive system. In the fourteenth and fifteenth -centuries these were gradually extended to the walls of the town, as -we shall see in Part III., "Military Architecture." - - - - - PART III - - MILITARY ARCHITECTURE - - - - - CHAPTER I - - CIRCUMVALLATION OF TOWNS - - -The distinctive character of military architecture in the Middle Ages -must be sought in defensive fortification. In all other respects -its constructive methods were identical with those employed in -architectural works generally. The few ornamental features of military -buildings, as, for instance, the interior vaults and the profiles of -consoles and cornices, diverge but slightly from the accepted types of -such features in the churches, monasteries, and domestic structures of -the period. - -The Latin, Roman, Gallo-Roman, Romanesque, and Gothic architects -were versed in every department of the art they practised. The same -architect was called upon to construct the church and the fortress, -the abbey, and the ramparts which were often its necessary complement, -the donjon, and castle, the town hall, the hospital, the rural -barn, and the urban dwelling. He was responsible not only for the -inception of every class and form of building, but for its successful -elaboration; on him alone the responsibility of its execution rested; -no scientific specialist checked his conclusions and verified his -calculations as in our own time. The system by which the architect and -the engineer have each their separate functions and responsibilities -in the construction of the same building was unknown. The builder, or -mason, as some would have him called, was an architect in the fullest -sense; he himself traced the diagrams of his conceptions, and directed -the execution of every detail, careful alike of stability and beauty. - - [Illustration: 163. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. GATE-HOUSE] - -It is a curious and disheartening phenomenon that such a direct -contravention of the principles of mediæval art as the modern -system of divided responsibility implies, should obtain only -among the French, the very people to whom Western Europe owes its -initiation into those principles. In England, in Belgium, in Holland, -Switzerland, and Germany the architect is also the engineer; the -science and the art of his craft are inseparable. "This intimate -union of qualities gives an individuality to certain productions of -these nations which we might well lay to heart and make the subject -of serious comparative study. We must needs admit to begin with that -we ourselves have become disciples rather than pioneers in a great -movement."[57] - -[57] "L'Art à l'Exposition," _L'Architecture_, by Ed. Corroyer; Paris. -_L'Illustration_, for 25th May 1889. - -The one preoccupation of the modern engineer seems to be the -satisfaction of imperious necessity. He is inclined to neglect all -that mathematics cannot give him. And yet he has brought about a very -sensible progress by his mathematical application of modern science. -He has unquestionably excelled in industrial masterpieces perfectly -adapted to the needs of the moment, if wanting in the qualities -that make for immortality. We accept with qualified admiration -his marvellous bridges and kindred works in metal--marvellous yet -ephemeral; but we accept them merely as a temporary substitute for the -more solid if less showy stone bridges of our early architects. - -We would not have the servant of yesterday the master of to-morrow. -We protest against the degradation of the architect from his high -and noble estate to the rank of a mere decorator, however skilful. -We would not witness the extinction of the ancient French traditions -which inspired so many masterpieces, and to which we look as the -source of many yet to come. - -It appears, moreover, that the general acceptation of the word -_ingénieur_ (engineer) is a totally mistaken one. It is derived from -the mediæval term _engigneur_, which was very differently applied. - -The architect and the engineer of our own day are both _constructors_, -but with a difference. The architect loves and cultivates his art; the -engineer, with few exceptions, despises, or affects to despise, his. - -In the Middle Ages their functions were perfectly distinct. The -architect constructed what the _engigneur_ used his utmost cunning -to destroy. The architect built ramparts and strengthened them with -towers; the _engigneur_ undermined them if attacking, or countermined -them if defending. It was his business to invent or direct the use of -engines of war, such as rams, mangonels, arblasts, and machines for -the slinging of enormous projectiles, or grenades. He constructed the -portable wooden towers which the besieging party brought up against -the walls for an escalade, directed the sappers who undermined them, -and, in fact, superintended the manufacture of all such offensive -engines as were necessary in the conduct of a siege, a process -which, before the invention of firearms, necessitated preparations -as prolonged and tedious as they were complicated and uncertain. -In short, the architect was the constructor of fortifications, the -_engigneur_ their assailant or defender. It was not until the time -of Vauban that military engineers were called upon to exercise -functions so much more extensive. At an earlier period there were, -however, specialists in construction who undertook such works as the -circumvallation of Aigues-Mortes, but their labours had little in -common with those of modern engineers. - - [Illustration: 164. CITY OF CARCASSONNE. RAMPARTS TO THE SOUTH-EAST] - -Before the feudal period the fortifications of camps consisted -either of earthworks, of walls built of mud and logs, or of -palisades surrounded by ditches, in imitation of the Roman methods -of castrametation. The _enceintes_ of towns fortified by the Romans -were walls defended by round or square towers. These walls were built -double; a space of several yards intervened, which was filled up with -the earth dug from the moat or ditch, mixed with rubble. The mass was -levelled at the top and paved to form what is technically known as a -covered way, or terrace protected by an embattled wall rising from the -outer curtain. - -That portion of the _enceinte_ of Carcassonne which was built by the -Visigoths in the sixth century is thus constructed on the Roman model. -"The ground on which the town is built rises considerably above that -beyond the walls, and is almost on a level with the rampart. The -curtains[58] are of great thickness; they are composed of two facings -of dressed stones cut into small cubes, which alternate with courses -of bricks; the intervening space is filled not with earth, but with -a concrete formed of rubble and lime."[59] The flanking towers which -rise considerably above the curtains were so disposed that it was -possible to isolate them from the walls by raising drawbridges. Thus -each tower formed an independent stronghold against assailants. - -[58] The wall space between the towers. - -[59] Viollet-le-Duc, _La Cité de Carcassonne_. - -Fig. 165 shows a portion of the north-west ramparts of the city of -Carcassonne, with the first round tower; to the left of the drawing is -the Romano-Visigothic tower, flanking right and left the curtains of -the same period. - - [Illustration: 165. CITY OF CARCASSONNE. NORTH-WEST RAMPARTS. - ROMANO-VISIGOTHIC TOWER (FIRST ON THE LEFT)] - -In accordance with the Roman tradition the _enceinte_ of a town, -formed, as we have seen, of ramparts strengthened by towers, were -further defended by a citadel or keep, of which we shall have more to -say in the following chapter. This keep commanded the whole place, -which was usually situated on the slope of a hill above the bank of -a river. The bridge which communicated with the opposite bank was -fortified by a gate-house or _tête de pont_, to guard the passage. - -The circumvallation of towns often consisted of a double enclosure, -divided by a moat. By the close of the twelfth century architects had -caught the inspiration of the great military works of the Crusaders in -the East, and military architecture had progressed on the same lines -as religious and monastic architecture. - -The territories, conquered by the Crusaders in the course of -establishing the Christian supremacy in the East, had been divided -into feofs as early as the twelfth century. These soon boasted -castles, churches, and monastic foundations, of the Cistercian and -Premonstrant orders among others. - -According to G. Rey, the following abbeys and priories were built in -the neighbourhood of Jerusalem at this period:--The monasteries of -Mount Sion, Mount Olivet, Jehoshaphat, St. Habakkuk, and St. Samuel, -etc., and in Galilee, those of Mount Tabor and Palmarée. The military -organisation was regulated by the _Assises de la haute Cour_ (Assizes -of the Supreme Court), which determined the number of knights to be -furnished by each feof for the defence of the kingdom, and in like -manner, the number of men-at-arms required from each church and each -community of citizens.... The middle of the twelfth century was the -period at which the Christian colonies of the Holy Land were most -flourishing. Undeterred by the wars of which Syria was the theatre, -the Franks had promptly assimilated the Greek and Roman tradition as -manifested in Byzantine types of military architecture. The double -enclosure flanked by towers, one of the main features of Syrian -fortresses built by the Crusaders, was borrowed from the Greeks. -Many of their strongholds, notably Morgat, the so-called _Krak_ of -the knights, and Tortosa, were of colossal proportions. They may be -divided into two classes. In the first, the buildings are of the -Frankish type, and seem to be modelled on the French castles of the -eleventh and twelfth centuries. The flanking towers are nearly always -round; they contain a defensive story, while their summits and those -of the intervening curtains are crowned with battlements in the French -fashion. Other features subsequently introduced were: the double -_enceinte_, borrowed from the Byzantines, the inner line of which -commanded the outer, and was sufficiently near to allow its defenders -to engage, should assailants have carried the first barrier; -secondly, stone machicolations in place of the wooden _hourds_ or -timber scaffoldings which were retained in France till the close of -the thirteenth century; and finally, the talus, a device by which -the thickness of the walls was tripled at the base, thus affording -increased security against the arts of the sapper and the earthquake -shocks so frequent in the East. - - [Illustration: 166. FORTRESS OF KALAAT-EL-HOSN IN SYRIA (KRAK OF THE - KNIGHTS). SECTION, AS RESTORED BY M. G. REY.] - - [Illustration: 166A. FORTRESS DE KALAAT-EL-HOSN IN SYRIA (KRAK OF THE - KNIGHTS). AS RESTORED BY M. G. REY] - -The buildings of the second class belong to the school of the Knights -Templars. Their characteristic features are the towers, invariably -square or oblong in shape, and projecting but slightly from the -curtains. The fortress of Kalaat-el-Hosn,[60] or _Krak_ of the -knights, commanded the pass through which ran the roads from Homs -and Hamah to Tripoli and Tortosa, and was a military station of -the first importance. Together with the castles of Akkar, Arcos, La -Colée, Chastel-Blanc, Areynieh, Yammour, Tortosa, and Markab, and the -various auxiliary towers and posts, it constituted a system of defence -designed to protect Tripoli from the incursions of the Mahometans, -who retained their hold on the greater part of Syria.... The _Krak_, -which was built under the direction of the Knights Hospitallers, has a -double _enceinte_, separated by a wide ditch partly filled with water. -The inner wall forms a reduct, and rising above the outer enclosure -commands its defences. It also encompasses the various dependencies of -the castle, the great hall, chapel, domestic buildings, and magazines. -A long vaulted passage, easy of defence, was the only entrance to the -place. To the north and west the outer line consisted of a curtain -flanked by rounded turrets, and crowned by machicolations, which -formed a continuous scaffolding of stone along the greater part of the -_enceinte_. - -[60] _Étude sur les Monuments de l'Architecture Militaire des croisés -en Syrie_, by G. Rey; Paris, 1871. - - [Illustration: 167. CITY OF CARCASSONNE. PLAN (THIRTEENTH CENTURY)] - -The action of the East upon the West was manifested in the thirteenth -and fourteenth centuries by the application to the fortification of -Carcassonne and Aigues-Mortes of methods in use among the Crusaders in -Syria. - -This oriental influence is apparent at Carcassonne in the double -_enceinte_ borrowed from Syrian fortresses. - -The city of Carcassonne stands upon a plateau commanding the valley -of the Aude, the site of an ancient Roman _castellum_. In the sixth -century it fell into the hands of the Visigoths, who fortified it. -It increased considerably in extent during the tenth, eleventh, and -twelfth centuries, but in the time of Simon de Montfort (1209) and of -Raymon de Trancavel (1240) the _enceinte_ was not nearly so important -as it became under St. Louis. By the middle of the thirteenth century -the king had begun the construction of defensive works on a vast -scale, and built the outer _enceinte_, which still exists, as may -be seen on the plan (Fig. 167) taken from Viollet-le-Duc's _Cité de -Carcassonne_. - - [Illustration: 168. CITY OF CARCASSONNE. RAMPARTS. SOUTH-WEST ANGLE] - -The primary object of the _enceinte_ was to secure the place against -a sudden attack during the completion or enlargement of its interior -defences. The additions of St. Louis, which were carried on by Philip -the Bold, rendered Carcassonne impregnable in the general estimation. -"As a fact, it was never invested, and did not open its gates to -Edward the Black Prince till 1355, when all Languedoc had submitted to -him."[61] - -[61] Viollet-le-Duc, _La Cité de Carcassonne_. - - [Illustration: 169. RAMPARTS OF AIGUES-MORTES, NORTH AND SOUTH] - -Oriental influences are equally evident at Aigues-Mortes. The Genoese -Guglielmo Boccanera, who constructed the _enceinte_, was apparently -familiar with the system of fortification adopted by the Crusaders in -Syria. The machicolations which here make their first appearance in -Languedoc (in the reign of Philip the Bold), proclaim the filiation -of Aigues-Mortes to the Syrian fortresses. Italian influences are -also perceptible in the square plan of the flanking towers. French -architects had always preferred the round tower, as more solid in -itself, and less open to attack from sappers, who, in advancing -against a building of this form, were fully exposed to the missiles of -the defenders from the curtains adjoining; while, on the other hand, -the angles of the square tower gave a certain protection to assailants -advancing against its front. - - [Illustration: 170. RAMPARTS OF AVIGNON. CURTAIN, TOWERS, AND - MACHICOLATIONS] - -The ramparts of Avignon, which date from the fourteenth century, seem -to have been constructed on Italian methods. The curtains are flanked -by square towers, open towards the town, and surmounted by embattled -parapets corbelled out from the walls, and machicolated so as to -command their bases. - -In the thirteenth century walls and towers were provided with movable -wooden scaffoldings, as shown at A in the figure. Spaces were left -in the masonry of the walls for the insertion of wooden beams, which, -projecting from the curtain, supported an overhanging gallery. This, -being pierced with traps or apertures in the flooring, commanded -the base of the wall, and was an important element in defensive -operations. But as it was found that these timber galleries were -easily set on fire by assailants, they were replaced in the fourteenth -century by stone machicolations, as shown at B, consisting of corbels, -supporting an embattled parapet. Between the inner face of the parapet -and the outer face of the curtain the supporting corbels alternated -with openings for the defence of the base, as already described. This -arrangement, among the earliest examples of which are the square -towers of Avignon, was soon generally adopted by architects in the -construction of city ramparts. - - [Illustration: 170A. MACHICOLATIONS] - -"The art of fortification, which had made great advances at the -beginning of the thirteenth century, remained almost stationary to -the end of it. During the Hundred Years' War, however, it received a -fresh impetus. When order had been restored in the kingdom, Charles -VII. set about the restoration or reconstruction of many fortresses -recaptured from the English. In the defensive works of such towns -and castles, and in various new undertakings of a like nature, -we recognise the method and regularity proper to an art based on -well-defined principles, and far advanced towards mastery."[62] - -[62] Viollet-le-Duc, _Dictionnaire_, vol. i. - -In the Abbey of Mont St. Michel the successive modifications applied -to military _enceintes_ from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, -are illustrated in the fullest and most interesting manner. - - [Illustration: 171. RAMPARTS OF ST. MALO (FIFTEENTH CENTURY)] - -Of the fourteenth century fortifications, which surrounded the -original town at the summit of the rock, connecting the ramparts with -the _Merveille_ on the north, and the abbey buildings on the south, -some fragments still remain. The tower on the north is intact. The -walls are crowned with machicolations, in accordance with the then -novel system of massing the defences at the top of the ramparts. -The gate of the _enceinte_ was to the south-east, judging from the -miniatures in the _livre d'heures_ of Pierre II., Duke of Brittany, -which show the arrangement of the original _enceinte_ at the close of -the fourteenth century. - -The abbey was at this time governed by Pierre Le Roy, one of its -ablest abbots and most famous constructors. He rebuilt the summit of -the _Tour des Corbins_ (_merveille_), restored, and re-roofed the -abbey buildings to the south of the church, which, begun by Richard -Justin in 1260, were carried on at intervals by his successors till -they were partially destroyed by the fire of 1374. He completed the -eastern defences by the addition of the square tower at O on the plan -(Fig. 151), in which he built several rooms for the accommodation of -his soldiers. The tower is known as the _Tour Perrine_, in memory of -its author. We have seen that the abbots gradually became great feudal -chieftains; the Abbot of Mont St. Michel was further commandant of the -place for the king; and he was empowered to bestow feofs on the nobles -of the province, who bound themselves in return to keep guard over the -mount in certain contingencies, enumerated in the following rendering -of a Latin text:--[63] - -[63] Ed. Corroyer, _Description de l'Abbaye du Mont St. Michel et de -ses Abords_. - -"The tenure of these vavassories was by faith and fealty, and their -holders were bound to furnish relief and thirteen knights, each -of whom was to come in person to guard the gate of the abbey when -necessary--that is to say, in time of war; each to keep guard for -the space of the ebb and flow of the sea--that is to say, during -the rising and falling of the tide; and each to be provided with -gambeson, casque, gauntlets, shield, lance, and all requisite arms; -and further to present themselves thus armed yearly at the feast of -St. Michael in September." - -In the early years of the fifteenth century he built the gate-house -and crenellated curtain which connects it with the _Merveille_, to -the north of the guard-room, _Bellechaise_ (see Fig. 163, beginning -of this chapter). The gate-house was placed in front of the northern -façade of _Bellechaise_ (D, Fig. 150); an open space between this and -the south wall of the new structure formed a wide _machicoulis_ for -the protection of the north gate (that of _Bellechaise_), which, by -the erection of the new building, had been transformed into a second -interior entrance. The gate-house or _châtelet_ is a square structure, -flanked at the angles of the north front by two turrets, corbelled out -upon buttresses. In general appearance they resemble a pair of huge -mortars standing on their breeches. Between the pedestals of these -turrets was the doorway and the inclined vault over the staircase -leading to the guard-room. This entrance was defended by a portcullis -worked from within on the first story, and by three _machicoulis_ -at the top of the curtain, between the battlements of the turrets. -For the further protection of the gate-house Pierre Le Roy built the -barbican which covers it to the east and north, and also commands -the great staircase (_Grand Degré_) on the north. He modified the -ramparts by the addition of the tower known as the _Tour Claudine_ at -the north-east angle of the _Merveille_. In the lower story of this -tower he constructed a guard-room, the postern of which communicated -with the _Grand Degré_, and by a series of ingenious and unique -combinations was so contrived as to command all the approaches.[64] - -[64] Ed. Corroyer, _Description de l'Abbaye du Mont St. Michel_, etc.; -Paris, 1877. - - [Illustration: 172. MONT ST. MICHEL. SOUTH FRONT (AS IT WAS IN 1875)] - -In 1411 the Abbot Robert Jolivet was nominated lord of the abbey by -Pope John XXIII. After his election by the monks he was made captain -of the garrison by the king, but continued to live in Paris. In -1416, however, he hastened to his abbey, which was threatened by the -English, who had possessed themselves of Lower Normandy after the -battle of Agincourt in 1415. Whilst the English were busy fortifying -Tombelaine, Robert Jolivet completed his walls and certain towers -round about the town, which still exist. To meet the expenses of -his undertaking the abbot obtained a grant from the king of fifteen -hundred _livres_ from the revenues of the Viscounty of Avranches, -besides a subsidy from the Master of the Mint at St. Lô. - - [Illustration: 173. MONT ST. MICHEL. FORTIFICATIONS OF THE FOURTEENTH - CENTURY (AS RESTORED BY ED. CORROYER)] - -At the time when Robert Jolivet was building the new ramparts, from -about 1415 to 1420, the town had greatly increased towards the south, -and even setting aside the dangerous proximity of the English at -Tombelaine, some more extensive system of defence than that afforded -by the fortifications of the fourteenth century was imperatively -needed to secure the place against attack. Robert Jolivet incorporated -his new walls on the east with those of the preceding century, which, -following the escarpments of the cliff, descend to the beach, and -are protected by the northern tower. These walls he flanked with an -additional tower projecting considerably from the surface, which was -destined to command the adjoining curtains and protect the main line -of his defences. He then carried his walls round to the south of the -rock and strengthened them by five other towers. The last of these, -known as the _Tour du Roi_, forms the south-eastern projection of the -place, and commands the western gate of the town. - -The walls and their sloping bases are defended by stone machicolations -above, the consoles of which support open crenellated parapets. -Several of the towers were roofed, and afforded shelter for the -defenders of the ramparts. After leaving the _Tour du Roi_ the -walls turn off at a right angle and unite themselves to the abrupt -declivities of the rock by means of a series of steps and covered -ways, commanded by a fortified guard-room. Even the inaccessible peaks -of the rock itself are fortified and connected with the defences of -the abbey on the south. - -At the beginning of the fifteenth century, and still more notably -towards its close, firearms had been successfully used in various -sieges, and had made such rapid progress that the whole system of -attack and defence was transformed. Towers gave way to bastions, the -terraces of which became batteries, while the battlements of the -earlier mode were replaced by epaulments. Machicolations which were -now merely a traditional decoration at last disappeared altogether, -and military science gradually took the place of architecture, for -which there was henceforth little scope in this particular field. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - CASTLES AND KEEPS, OR DONJONS - - -The first French castles of the mediæval period seem to have been -built for the purpose of arresting invasion and affording shelter to -communities decimated by the raids of the Normans. They consisted of -simple intrenchments more or less extensive. Surrounded by a _fossé_ -or ditch formed of earthworks, the scarp of which was defended by -a palisade, they had much in common with the camps of the ancient -Romans. In the centre of the enclosure rose the _motte_ (mote or -mound), a conical elevation, either natural to the ground, or -artificially formed on the model of the Roman _prætorium_. This was -surmounted by a building, generally of wood, which served as a post of -observation and a retreat less accessible than the _enceinte_ itself. - -In these rudimentary dispositions we recognise the germ of those -feudal keeps and castles which were such important features of -mediæval architecture, notably during the Gothic period. - - [Illustration: 174. CASTLE OF ANGERS] - -Defensive works of this nature sprang up at various points of the -royal domain which were exposed to the incursions of the Scandinavian -pirates; but the temporary concessions of Charles the Bald were -claimed as definitive by those to whom they had been made. "When, -therefore, that feeble monarch proclaimed the heredity of the feofs -at Quierzy-sur-Oise in 877, he did but sanction that which was -already an accomplished fact.... When the feudal system was firmly -established, the nobles turned their attention to the maintenance -of their usurpations alike against the kings of France, strangers, -and neighbours. To this end they carefully chose the best strategic -positions in their territories, and fortified them in the most durable -fashion at their command. The imposts they levied were considerable, -and their serfs were subject to endless exactions."[65] Stone castles -were accordingly built which, in general arrangement, adhered to -primitive models. In 980 Frotaire had raised no less than five around -Périgueux, his episcopal town. - -[65] Anthyme St. Paul, _Histoire Monumentale de la France_. - -In 991 Thibault File-Étoupe built a fortress on the hill of Montlhéry, -near the royal residences of Paris and Étampes, which was very -formidable to the first five kings of the house of Capet. Later, when -it became a royal possession, it was one of the chief bulwarks of the -city. - - [Illustration: 175. CARCASSONNE; CITADEL. VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EASTERN - ANGLE. (SEE PLAN, FIG. 167)] - -In the Middle Ages the castle bore the same relation to the fortified -town as did the keep to the feudal castle, and the history of one is -bound up in that of the other. - -In a fortified town the castle was the lodging of the leader and his -soldiers. It was connected with the ramparts of the place, and had one -or more special outlets; it was further provided with defences on the -side of the town itself, so that upon occasion it became an isolated -stronghold. - -The Castle of Carcassonne is a famous example of such offensive and -defensive fortification. It was built in the first years of the -twelfth century, and is composed of various lodgings for the chief and -his garrison, defended east and north, on the side towards the city, -by towers and curtains (Fig. 175). At the south-west angle independent -reducts and towers guard the courtyards and approaches. The west front -overlooks the open country, and here was placed the gate, which was -defended by a series of formidable devices so ingenious as to preclude -all possibility of surprise. - - [Illustration: 176. LOCHES CASTLE. KEEP] - -During the Romanesque and Gothic periods the castle was a miniature -town, with its own fortified _enceinte_, composed of walls reinforced -by towers which served as refuges at various points of the -circumference, and formed so many reducts for the arrest of assailants. - -The keep was the citadel of this miniature town, the temporary -lodging of the lord whose vassals lived in the internal offices, and -whose soldiers occupied the gate-house buildings and the towers of -the ramparts. The noble sought to give his special habitation the -most formidable aspect possible, and thereby to strike terror to the -beholder, a very necessary device in those days of conflict when the -friend of night was often the implacable foe of morning. "In times of -peace the keep was the receptacle for the treasure, arms, and archives -of the family; but the lord did not lodge there; he only took up his -quarters in the keep with his wife and children in time of war. As -it was not possible for him to defend the place alone, he surrounded -himself with a band of the most devoted of his followers who shared -his dwelling. From thence he exercised a scrupulous surveillance over -the garrison and its approaches, for the keep was always placed at -the most vulnerable point of the fortress, and he and his bodyguard -held the horde of vassals and retainers in due subservience; as they -were able to pass in and out at all hours by secret and well-guarded -passages, the garrison was kept in ignorance of the exact means of -defence, the lord, as was natural, doing all in his power to make them -appear formidable."[66] - -[66] Viollet-le-Duc, _Dictionnaire_, vol. v. - -Castles and keeps of stone were generally built upon the natural scarp -of some spur commanding two valleys and near the banks of a river; the -primitive mounds of the feudal fortresses were abandoned; as we have -already remarked, these were in many cases artificial, and would have -been quite inadequate to the support of the huge masses of masonry of -the new architecture. - -"By the close of the tenth century and the opening years of the -eleventh, Foulques Nerra was raising castles throughout his own -territories in Anjou, and on every available point of vantage he could -wrest from his neighbour, the Count of Blois and Tours; the latter -built fortresses to resist the aggressor and complete the network of -strongholds begun by his father, Thibault the Trickster, one of the -most turbulent nobles of his day."[67] - -[67] Anthyme St. Paul, _Histoire Monumentale de la France_. - -The keep of Langeais, on a precipitous hill overlooking the Loire, -was founded by Foulques Nerra at the close of the tenth century; -the walls, which are still standing on three sides, show traces of -Gallo-Roman methods of construction; the dressed stones are of small -size, and brick and stone are used conjointly for the voussoirs of the -window arches. - -A large number of castles and keeps were built in the eleventh and -twelfth centuries, among others those of Plessy, Grimoult, Le Pin, -and La Pommeraye, the last on a mound surrounded by deep moats -which separate three lines of circumvallation from each other; -Beaugency-sur-Loire, the vast keep of which was four stories high; -and Loches, which is ascribed to Foulques Nerra, but which seems -to belong rather to the twelfth century, at which period military -architecture had made a great advance. The keep of Loches is perhaps -the finest of all such structures in France; in height it is nearly -100 feet; the ramparts seem to date from the thirteenth century; the -form of the towers on plan is a pointed arch, a shape adopted as -offering greater resistance at the part most frequently attacked by -the sapper. - - [Illustration: 177. FALAISE CASTLE. KEEP] - -At Falaise, where the castle like that of Domfront is built on -a rugged promontory, the ramparts are later than the keep, the -architectural details of which point to the twelfth century. This -hypothesis is supported by a passage in the Chronicle of Robert du -Mont, quoted by M. de Caumont. In 1123 Henry II. rebuilt the keep and -ramparts of Arques, and carried out similar restorations at Gisors, -Falaise, Argentan, Exmes, Domfront, Amboise, and Vernon. - - [Illustration: 178. LAVARDIN CASTLE. KEEP] - - [Illustration: 179. KEEP OF AIGUES-MORTES. TOUR DE CONSTANCE] - -Other keeps of equal interest in point of situation, plan, or details -of construction are:--Ste. Suzanne, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Broue, L'Islot, -Tonnay-Boutonne, Pons, Chamboy, Montbazon, Lavardin, Montrichard, -and Huriet in the Bourbonnais. All these, in common with those first -described, are square or rectangular on plan. From the end of the -twelfth century onwards the cylindrical form predominates in the plan -of keeps and towers. On the whole, it offered the best resistance to -the mediæval assailant. The convex surface was of equal strength all -round, and as we have seen in the preceding chapter, the circular -trace for towers gave the garrison the best chance of defending their -bases from the curtain, and of opposing the work of sappers and miners. - - [Illustration: 180. PROVINS CASTLE. KEEP] - -The great advance made in architecture by the general adoption -of an expedient so simple and easy of execution as the vault on -intersecting arches manifested itself very strongly in military -structures. The heavy wooden floors of the earlier keeps, which were -so apt to catch fire, were replaced by less ponderous vaults, binding -the circular walls firmly together, and forming a flooring for the -various stories less unsteady and infinitely more durable than the -huge beams and joists of earlier days. - -A further improvement was the pointed roof, round on plan, now -generally adopted as better calculated to withstand projectiles or -combustibles which shattered the angles of the roof in the old square -towers, and set fire to the timbers. - -The form of keeps, however, varied considerably throughout the -twelfth century. At Houdan the keep is a great tower strengthened by -four turrets; at Étampes it is composed of four clustered towers, -forming a quatrefoil on plan; the vaulted stories are marked by many -curious features, among others a deep well, the opening of which is -in the second floor. Some historians date this building from the -eleventh century; there are indications, however, in the details of -the architecture and sculptures, which point to the early part of the -reign of Philip Augustus. - -The keep of Provins, which belongs to the twelfth century, has certain -very original features. It rises from a solid mound of masonry, and -has a circular _enceinte_. The base of the keep itself is square, and -is flanked at each angle by a turret. An octagonal tower surmounts -the square base, and is connected with the flanking turrets by flying -buttresses. The keep of Gisors is also octagonal in form, one of its -octagons being at a tangent to the circular _enceinte_ which crowns -the feudal _motte_ or mound. It was built in the twelfth century, and -was considerably augmented by the line of walls and square towers -which Philip Augustus drew round the mound. - -The _Château Gaillard_, built at the close of the twelfth century -on an eminence commanding the Seine at Les Andelys, has several -peculiarities of arrangement. The round keep is first enclosed by a -circular _enceinte_, or rather by a square, the angles of which have -been rounded. This in its turn is surrounded by an elliptic enclosure -connected with the defences of the castle, and consisting of a series -of segmental towers united by very narrow curtains. In this massive -structure the art of the architect manifests itself only in the -robust solidity of the masonry. It is the keep in its purely military -character. No trace of decoration mitigates its austerity. - - [Illustration: 181. CASTLE OF CHINON. SOUTH FRONT] - -Philip Augustus, having possessed himself of the Château Gaillard, -fortified Gisors on the same formidable scale, and proceeded to build -the castle of Dourdan as well as his own palace fortress of the -Louvre, in Paris. Upon the death of the king, Enguerrand III. began -to build a fortress at Coucy, which he completed in less than ten -years (1223-1230). Its grandiose proportions and formidable system of -defence surpassed everything that had gone before. Coucy was, in fact, -the architectural manifestation of that haughty ambition to which -Enguerrand is said to have given free expression during the minority -of his sovereign. - - [Illustration: 182. CASTLE OF CLISSON. KEEP] - -Next in importance to the castles and keeps of the thirteenth century, -already enumerated, are the following:--The White Tower of Issoudun; -the Tower of Blandy; the octagonal keep of Châtillon-sur-Loing, -Semur; the royal fortresses of Angers, built by St. Louis; -Montargis, Boulogne, Chinon, and Saumur; the _Tour Constance_ or -keep of Aigues-Mortes, ascribed to St. Louis; the castle of Najac, -built by his brother, Alphonse of Poitiers; the castles of Bourbon -l'Archambault and Chalusset, and the castle of Clisson, rebuilt or -begun by Olivier I., Lord of Clisson, after his return from the Holy -Land, etc. - - [Illustration: 183. VILLENEUVE-LES-AVIGNON. CASTLE OF ST. ANDRÉ] - -In the fourteenth century military architecture developed chiefly -on reconstructive lines. Ancient fortresses were reorganised in -accordance with the new methods of attack and (consequently) of -defence, and the weak points brought to light by recent sieges -were dealt with. The same process was applied to the construction -of towers which had hitherto been furnished with several rows of -loopholes, an excellent expedient for the defence of curtains and -approaches, but subject to this drawback, that it directed attention -to the most vulnerable points. The first effect of the use of cannon -in warfare was to increase the thickness of the walls; subsequently, -such structural modifications were adopted as were required by the -novel method of massing all the defences at the summit of machicolated -walls. The principal castles of this period were Vincennes, near -Paris, built by Philip of Valois and Charles V., and the vast -fortified palace at Avignon, constructed by the Popes Benedict XII., -Clement VI., Innocent VI., and Urban V., of which we shall have more -to say in Part IV. Gaston Phœbus, Count of Foix and Béarn, built -square keeps in the _Bastide_ of Béarn, at Montaner, and at Mauvezin, -besides circular keeps at Lourdes and at Foix. - - [Illustration: 184. CASTLE OF TARASCON] - -Among keeps and castles completed or entirely built in the fourteenth -century, Anthyme St. Paul enumerates those of Roquetaillade, -Bourdeilles, Polignac, Briquebec, Hardelot, Rambures, Lavardin (the -foundations of which were laid in the twelfth century), Montrond, -Turenne, Billy, Murat, and Hérisson, the curious keep of Montbard, the -keeps of Romefort, Pouzauges, Noirmoutier, and many others. - -At the end of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century -Louis of Orleans, son of Charles V., took advantage of the madness -of his brother Charles VI. to fortify various positions on which he -relied for the furtherance of his ambitious schemes. In 1393 and the -years immediately following he acquired various estates in Valois: -Montépilloy, Pierrefonds, and La Ferté-Milon, the castle of which he -rebuilt entirely. He also bought the domain of Coucy in 1400, after -the death of the last male descendant of Enguerrand III. - -Coucy, Pierrefonds, and La Ferté-Milon have been so exhaustively -described in special works, notably those of Viollet-le-Duc, that we -need not reproduce them here. We have cited them as characteristic -types of those colossal fortresses and keeps, admirable alike in -grandiose proportion and refinement of detail which are the supreme -expression of feudal power. - - [Illustration: 185. VITRÉ CASTLE] - -Several other castles were built in Albigeois, Auvergne, Limousin, -Guyenne, La Vendée, and Provence, notably at Tarascon. The keeps of -Trèves in Anjou also date from this period. - -Important castles sprang up all over Brittany in the fifteenth -century. Such were Combourg, Fougères, Montauban, St. Malo, Vitré, -Elven, Sucinio, Dinan, Tonquédec, etc. - -Many of these buildings which date from the close of the century -were remarkable for their ingenuity of arrangement and richness of -decoration. But though worthy of all attention from the artistic point -of view, they do not come within the scope of our present study--that -of _military_ architecture in the Gothic period. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - GATES AND BRIDGES - - -Though confining ourselves to a brief historical abstract of the -so-called Gothic period in architecture, without reference to Roman -examples, we have said enough in the foregoing studies on castles -and keeps, and the circumvallation of towns, to give some idea of -the importance attached by architects to the gates which secured the -_enceintes_, and the bridges which afforded an approach. - - -_Gates._--Following the example of those Frankish architects whose -works in Syria after the first Crusade seem to have exercised such -far-reaching influence, French builders of the reigns of Philip -Augustus and St. Louis reduced the entrances of fortresses and -fortified _enceintes_ to the smallest number practicable. Their -construction was based upon a system calculated to repulse any -ordinary attempt to carry the place by direct attack; as a rule, -fortresses were taken rather by ruse, surprise, or treason than by -regular siege. - - [Illustration: 186. CITY OF CARCASSONNE. GATE-HOUSE OF THE CASTLE] - -During the twelfth, and more especially the thirteenth century, the -gates were the points most strongly fortified. They were approached -over a bridge, by raising a movable portion of which, however, -entrance might be barred on the very threshold. The narrow gateway -passage was defended by two projecting towers pierced with loopholes, -and connected by a curtain. The whole structure formed a fortified -gate-house, known as a _châtelet_, which had to be carried before an -assailant could penetrate to the fortress beyond. The passage was -further defended by a single or double portcullis, a grated timber -framework like a harrow, cased with iron, the uprights of which were -spiked at the bottom. The passage was also defended by machicolations -or holes in the roof, through which the garrison could hurl down -missiles on the heads of their enemies, should the latter have forced -the gate. - -The castle-gate of Carcassonne which was built about 1120 still -exists, and is a good example of such arrangements. - -The minute precautions adopted by architects to guard against surprise -are very manifest in this example. A sudden attempt was often -successful, especially if favoured by traitors among the defenders -themselves. - -The difficulties of passage were increased by the multiplication of -portcullises, the windlasses of which were worked from different -stories of the tower, so as to prevent collusion between different -parties of the garrison, which was often composed largely of -mercenaries. In the gate-house of Carcassonne the first portcullis -was raised or lowered by means of chains and counter-weights worked -from a windlass on the second floor; the second portcullis was worked -in like manner from the first floor, in a place entirely cut off from -communication with that above, to which access could only be obtained -by a wooden staircase in the castle courtyard. - -In the thirteenth century military architects further provided -against surprises by defensive outworks. The gate of Laon, at Coucy, -so admirably described by Viollet-le-Duc, is a famous example. These -outworks, which were called barbicans, were designed to protect the -great gate and its approaches. - - [Illustration: 187. CARCASSONNE. GATEWAY OF THE LISTS, KNOWN AS THE - _PORTE DE L'AUDE_] - -Around the walls of the city of Carcassonne a second line of ramparts -had been drawn by St. Louis, in which only a single opening gave -access to the _lists_ (Fig. 187)--that is to say, the space between -the inner and outer enclosures. He afterwards built a huge tower, -known as the _Barbican_, to the west of the castle, with which it -was connected by crenellated walls, and by inner cross-walls, so -arranged in a kind of echelon that the open spaces on one side were -masked by the projections on the other (see plan, Fig. 167). The -tower was destined to cover sorties from the garrison, and to keep -open communication by the bridge across the Aude. It was rather an -outwork than a barbican such as Philip the Bold built before the -_Porte Narbonaise_, on the east of the city, towards the close of the -thirteenth century. - - [Illustration: 188. CITY OF CARCASSONNE. GATE KNOWN AS THE _PORTE - NARBONAISE_] - -The _Porte Narbonaise_ bears a general resemblance to the main -gate of the castle, subject, however, to the great advance made in -military architecture in the course of a century. The gateway towers -are provided with spurs, an invention directed against the attack of -miners, which had the further advantage of interfering with the action -of a battering-ram, by exposing those who worked it to missiles from -the adjacent parts of the curtain. The gate opened immediately upon -the lists; it was defended by the crenellated semi-circular barbican, -which was united on either side to the embattled parapet of the lists. -Access to the barbican was obtained only by a narrow passage preceded -by a bridge, the latter easily defended by a redan which adjoined the -postern of the barbican. - -The gate itself was provided with two portcullises like those of the -castle gate; behind the first were massive folding-doors, and over it -a wide machicolation. - -The constructive methods employed in the building of fortified gates -were modified as military architecture progressed on lines already -considered by us in the first chapter of this section, when dealing -with defensive methods generally, which, in the fourteenth century, -seem to have been in advance of those of attack. A steady improvement -in details went on until the invention of gunpowder came in to -profoundly modify the conditions alike of defence and assault. - - [Illustration: 189. RAMPARTS OF AIGUES-MORTES. GATE KNOWN AS THE - _PORTE DE LA GARDETTE_. DRAWBRIDGE. (TO THE RIGHT OF THE DRAWING THE - _TOUR CONSTANCE_, BUILT BY ST. LOUIS)] - -The gateways of fortified _enceintes_ were modified in the -fourteenth century not only by alterations in the plan of towers, -the substitution of stone machicolations for the wooden _hourds_ or -scaffoldings of parapets, the addition of portcullises, folding-doors, -and the _machicoulis_ of the vaulted passage, but further by the -invention of the drawbridge. A drawbridge, it may be hardly necessary -to say, consisted of a wooden platform suspended by chains to -cross-beams poised on uprights on the principle of a see-saw; when -lowered, the bridge afforded a passage across the moat. It was raised -by depressing the inner ends of the lever-beams which pivoted upon a -fulcrum, and thus brought the platform up vertically against the front -of the building, where it formed an outer door which an attacking -party had either to batter in or to bring down by cutting the chains. - - [Illustration: 190. RAMPARTS OF DINAN. GATE KNOWN AS THE _PORTE DE - JERZUAL_] - -It will be readily perceived that such a bridge was infinitely more -effectual and more to be depended upon than the portable bridge -mentioned in our description of the castle gate of Carcassonne. -The latter had to be raised piece by piece, a prolonged operation -impossible of execution in case of a sudden surprise. - -Aigues-Mortes seems to have been one of the first fortresses to -which the new methods were applied. The gates east, west, and south -are constructed on the twelfth-century system, as exemplified at -Carcassonne. But the northern gate, known as the _Porte de la -Gardette_, which was either made or altered in the fourteenth century, -still shows the grooves for the beams of the drawbridge, and the -pointed arch of the doorway is enframed by a square rebate destined -for the platform when raised. - -The use of drawbridges became very general in the fourteenth century, -and gave rise to various ingenious combinations. The gate at Dinan, -known as the _Porte de Jerzual_, which probably dates from the close -of the century, is a curious example. It is not placed between -two towers in the manner then usual, but is pierced through the -actual face of a tower. In this case, the inner prolongation of the -lever-beams formed a solid panel like the platform of the bridge -itself. It was worked through a hole in the roof of the entrance -archway, being raised with the help of a chain, and falling through -its own preponderant weight. The horizontal pivot on which it turned -rested on the brackets shown in Fig. 190; the external sections of the -lever-beams sank in the usual manner into the vertical grooves above -the arch, and when the bridge was up, the solid panel joining the -inner ends of the levers doubled the protection it gave. In case of -alarm, the chain had simply to be let go, and the panel falling by its -own weight, the bridge rose, and the barricade was complete. - - [Illustration: 191. VITRÉ CASTLE. GATE-HOUSE] - -By the fifteenth century drawbridges were in universal use; an -interesting development was the result. This was the introduction of a -smaller gate or postern in the curtain between the towers, by the side -of the great gateway. Each of the two apertures was furnished with its -own drawbridge. That of the centre, which was reserved for horsemen -and vehicles, was worked by two beams or arms, as we have seen, while -the smaller footbridge of the postern was raised by means of a single -beam, the chain of which was attached to a forked upright. - - [Illustration: 192. ENCEINTE OF GUÉRANDE. GATE OF ST. MICHEL] - -The castle of Vitré, which was built, or at least completed at the -close of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century, -illustrates the system in the gateway of its _châtelet_. - -The gate-house, known as the _Porte St. Michel_, at Guérande, which -was built together with the _enceinte_ by John V., Duke of Brittany, -in 1431, still preserves the lateral grooves which indicate the shape -and arrangement of the postern drawbridge. - -When raised, the two drawbridges closed the apertures of gateway and -postern, while the open gulf of the great ditch, either empty, or full -of water, cut off the approach to the entrance. - -The Abbey of Mont St. Michel, which we have already studied under -various aspects, has further information to give us with regard to the -construction of fortified gateways. In accordance with contemporary -usage, the Abbot Pierre Le Roy built a gate-house or _bastille_ -(Fig. 163), the entrance of which was guarded by a portcullis and a -wide _machicoulis_; he masked this gate-house by a barbican, which -was connected north and south with the great stairway leading to -the abbey. The northern staircase is rendered specially interesting -by the ingenious arrangement of its gates, which opened within -the barbican. The apertures were filled by a panel which worked -horizontally, on a system necessitated by the exceptional situation of -the abbey, where the military, as well as the domestic buildings, were -superposed, communicating with each other only by an elaborate series -of staircases and inclines. The doors pivoted upon horizontal axes. -Resting upon salient jambs in the embrasures of the doorways, they -opened in a direction parallel with the slope of the steps, and could -be shut at the least alarm, being carried into place by their own -weight. They were kept fastened by lateral bolts, the slots of which -still exist in the jambs.[68] - -[68] Ed. Corroyer, _Description de l'Abbaye du Mont St. Michel et de -ses Abords_; Paris, 1877. - - [Illustration: 193. RAMPARTS OF MONT ST. MICHEL. GATEWAY KNOWN AS THE - _PORTE DU ROI_] - -The main gate of the ramparts, which was built between 1415 and 1420, -is to the west of the place, in the curtain flanked by the tower -known as the _Tour du Roi_. This gate and the lateral postern gave -access to the town, their drawbridges forming a passage across the -moat when lowered, and when raised, an initial barrier to assailants. -Above the gates was the warder's lodging, beneath which the vaulted -passage and the postern communicated directly with an outer guard-room -in the ground-floor of the _Tour du Roi_. In addition to the first -barrier, formed by the raised platform of the drawbridge, the main -entrance was secured by double doors, and by an iron portcullis, which -still remains in its lateral grooves. The great arch is crowned by a -tympanum, on which the united arms of the king, the abbey, and the -town were carved. - -The works designed for the defence of rivers flowing through fortified -towns, or of the inlets of harbours, are closely allied to the -military architecture of gates. At Troyes the river arches in the -town ramparts were guarded by gratings or portcullises of iron. At -Paris the passage of the Seine was barred by chains stretched across -the river from wall to wall, and upheld in the middle of the stream -by piles or firmly anchored boats. At Angers the walls of the town -abutted on two towers known as the _Haute Chaîne_ and the _Basse -Chaîne_ (the Higher and Lower Chains), containing windlasses for the -chains, which at night were stretched across the Maine at its passage -through the _enceinte_. - -Seaports were defended at the mouth by towers on either shore, -between which chains, worked from within, could be stretched to bar -the passage. The harbour of La Rochelle is thus protected. According -to some archæologists of authority, the tower known as the _Tour -de la Chaîne_ (to the left of the drawing) is older than that of -St. Nicholas (on the right), which is supposed by them to have been -built in the sixteenth century on the foundations of an earlier tower -contemporary with that on the other side of the Channel. The piles -upon which these towers stand seem to have given way in part, and to -have caused a perceptible inclination of the Tower of St. Nicholas. - - [Illustration: 194. ENTRANCE TO THE PORT OF LA ROCHELLE. TOWER OF ST. - NICHOLAS, AND TOWER CALLED _TOUR DE LA CHAÎNE_. BEFORE THE - RESTORATION] - -The suggestion made in a very fanciful modern design, that the two -towers were once united by a great arch, is wholly without foundation. -Such a useless structure would have entailed defensive works equally -useless, seeing that a chain stretched from tower to tower at high -tide--at low tide the harbour was inaccessible--would have been -perfectly effectual against any vessels of that period attempting to -force a passage. - - -_Bridges._--As is the case with all other architectural buildings, -the origin of bridges dates back to the Romans, by whom they were -often decorated with triumphal arches. The bridge of St. Chamas in -Provence, known as the _Pont Flavien_ (Flavian Bridge), is an example -which seems to date from the first centuries of the Christian era. - -The triumphal arches were in later times replaced by fortifications; -they became _têtes de pont_, _bastilles_, or crenellated gate-houses, -the function of which was not, like that of the arches, the decoration -of the structure or the glorification of its founder, but the defence -of the passage across the river, and the protection of the fortress -with which it communicated. - - [Illustration: 195. BRIDGE AT AVIGNON. RUINS OF THE BRIDGE KNOWN AS - THE PONT DE ST. BÉNÉZET] - -Among the bridges constructed by mediæval architects, that of St. -Bénézet, the Bridge of Avignon, seems to be the most ancient. This -bridge, which was begun about 1180, and completed some ten years -later, is equally remarkable for its architectural details, and the -structural problems solved by its builders. It crosses, or rather -used to cross, the Rhone--for though the arm towards the _Rocher des -Doms_ is the narrower, it is the deeper--on nineteen arches, extending -from the foot of the Doms, on the Avignonese bank, to the Tower of -Villeneuve, on the right bank, after a slight deflection southward. - -The gate-house on the left bank, some fragments of which still remain, -is said to have been built by the Popes in the fourteenth century, for -the purpose of levying tolls, a perquisite shared by them with the -King of France. - -The Bridge of Avignon seems to have been one of the first constructed -by the fraternity of the _Hospitaliers pontifs_, which was founded -in the twelfth century for the double object of building bridges -and succouring travellers. The head of the order at the time of the -building of the Rhone bridge was St. Bénézet. It must have numbered -architects of ability among its members, for the construction of the -Bridge of Avignon is very remarkable. Each of the elliptical arches -is composed of four independent arches in simple juxtaposition one -with another. This device ensures elasticity, and as a consequence -stability. The solidarity of the whole is rendered complete by the -masonry of the spandrils, which recall the architectural portions of -the aqueduct, known as the _Pont du Gard_; its width is about 16 feet. -The arches spring from piers furnished on either face with acute spurs -designed to break the force of the stream and the impact of floating -ice in the winter. - -The spandril above each pier is pierced with a round arch, to -give free passage to the water during those floods which at times -completely submerge the piers. - -The bridge in its present ruined condition has only four arches. On -the pier nearest to the left bank the ancient chapel, dedicated to -St. Nicholas, is still standing. Access to it is obtained by means -of a flight of corbelled steps rising from the foundation to the -entrance, and by an overhanging landing-stage, resting at one end -against the pier, at the other against the flank of the arch. - - [Illustration: 196. BRIDGE OF MONTAUBAN, KNOWN AS THE _PONT DES - CONSULS_] - -The old bridge at Carcassonne seems to be contemporary with that of -Avignon, but its arches are semi-circular, their keystones are bound -into the intrados, and their piers are spurred to the level of the -platform, where they form recesses or refuges, which the narrowness of -the bridge rendered very necessary. - -Among bridges of the thirteenth century we may mention that at -Béziers, where the arches, both pointed and semi-circular, resemble -those of Carcassonne in construction; but here the piers only rise -above the summers of the arches by the height of two or three courses, -and their spandrils are pierced to give free passage to the current -during floods. - -The bridge which spanned the Rhone at St. Savournin du Port, known as -the _Pont St. Esprit_, was the work of a Clunisian abbot about 1265. -It resembled the Bridge of Avignon in the construction of the piers -with their pierced spandrils; the arches, however, were semi-circular. -The platform, which is some 16 feet across, was barred at either end -by toll-gates; that nearest to the little town was connected with -the _tête de pont_, which, in after times, was incorporated with the -fortress commanding the course of the Rhone above the bridge. - - [Illustration: 197. BRIDGE OF CAHORS, KNOWN AS THE PONT DE VALENTRÉ] - -The question of tolls was an important one in those days, and gave -rise to frequent disputes. The towers and gate-houses of bridges were -toll-bars as well as defensive outworks. - -The bridge at Montauban, known as the _Pont des Consuls_, which was -begun at the close of the thirteenth century, remained unfinished -till the beginning of the fourteenth, when Philip the Fair gave such -help as was needed for its completion, on condition that he should -be allowed to raise three towers on the bridge, with a view to the -appropriation of the tolls. - -The Bridge of Montauban is built entirely of brick. It consists of -seven pointed arches, resting on spurred piers, which are pierced -with arches, also pointed, and rising to the same height as the main -arches, to provide for the frequent floods of the Tarn. - -The Bridge of Cahors is one of the most beautiful of -fourteenth-century examples. It is still of great interest in spite of -the various restorations it has undergone, chiefly of late years. - - [Illustration: 198. BRIDGE OF ORTHEZ] - -This bridge, which is known as the _Pont de Valentré_, was begun in -1308 by Raymond Panchelli, Bishop of Cahors from 1300-1312, and cannot -have been finished before 1355. It consists of six slightly pointed -arches; the piers, which rise to the level of the parapet, forming -lateral refuges, are triangular above bridge and square below. At each -end the bridge was commanded by a crenellated structure, forming a -gate-house or _tête de pont_ on either bank. In the middle rose a -lofty tower with gates, by means of which passage might be barred and -assailants checked in the event of a surprise of either gate-house. - - [Illustration: 199. ABBEY OF MONT ST. MICHEL. FORTIFIED BRIDGE - CONNECTING THE LOWER CHURCH WITH THE ABBEY] - -The Bridge of Orthez has strong affinities with that of Cahors. It -must date from about the same period, and there is every reason to -suppose it was defended, not only by the central tower, but by _têtes -de pont_, one of which at least must have been destroyed to make way -for the railroad from Bayonne to Pau. - -Bridges were of great importance in the Middle Ages, both as public -highways and military outworks. At certain points, notably at the -confluence of two rivers, they were strongly reinforced by very -considerable defences, as at Sens, Montereau, etc. - -At Paris, Orleans, Rouen, Nantes, and a large number of other towns -traversed by rivers, bridges were not only important as military -defences, but of great interest as architecture. - -Mont St. Michel shall furnish us with our last example, a bridge -of the fifteenth century. Though it spans no stream, it is none -the less remarkable. In the details of this bridge--its embattled -platform uniting the lower church to the abbey, its machicolated -parapet guarding the inner passages--we recognise an art consummate as -that which stirs our enthusiasm in the vast proportions and perfect -execution of the splendid choir, the whole proclaiming the versatile -genius of those great builders who welded into one noble monument a -triad of masterpieces--religious, monastic, and military. - - - - - PART IV - - CIVIL ARCHITECTURE - - - - - CHAPTER I - - BARNS, HOSPITALS, DWELLING-HOUSES, AND "HÔTELS" - OR TOWNHOUSES OF THE NOBILITY - - -Civil architecture could boast no special characteristics before -the close of the thirteenth century. Its earlier buildings bore the -impress of religious and monastic types, as was natural at a period -when architecture was practised almost exclusively by monks and by the -lay disciples trained in their schools. - -It was not until the following century that domestic architecture -threw off the trammels of religious tradition, and took on the -character appropriate to its various functions. Artists began to seek -decorative motives in the scenes and objects of daily life, no longer -borrowing exclusively from sacred themes, and convention in form and -detail was abandoned in some degree for the study of nature. - - -_Barns._--Throughout the Romanesque and Gothic periods, barns, -hospitals, and houses were constructed in the prevailing style. We -propose, of course, to deal only with buildings possessing real -architectural features. - - [Illustration: 200. TOWN-HALL AT ST. ANTONIN (TARN ET GARONNE). THE - UPPER PART OF THE BELFRY WAS REBUILT ABOUT 1860] - -The barns or granaries of mediæval times were rural dependencies of -the abbeys, but were built outside the enclosure of the monastery -proper, and formed part of the _priory_ or farm. The entrance of the -barn was a large door, opening upon the yard in the centre of the -front gable end; access was also obtained by means of smaller doors -in the side walls, and often a postern was constructed beside the -main entrance for ordinary use. The great central doors were then -only thrown open for the passage of carts, which, entering at the -front, passed out through a similar door in the opposite gable end, as -at the barn of Perrières, which, though situated in Normandy, was a -dependency of the Abbey of Marmoutier, near Tours. - - [Illustration: 201. BARN AT PERRIÈRES (CALVADOS). END OF TWELFTH - CENTURY. (AFTER CAUMONT)] - -Such barns were generally large three-aisled buildings, the central -aisle divided from those on either side by an arcade, or pillars of -wood or stone, which supported the pointed timber roof covering the -whole. - - [Illustration: 201A. BARN AT PERRIÈRES. SECTION] - -In some of these barns it was the practice to pile wheat, barley, or -rye in the centre and in one of the side aisles; in others the central -aisle was kept free for passage, and the grain was stored in the sides. - -The façades differ only in unimportant details. They consist of vast -gable ends, following the lines of the roof, and strengthened by -pilasters. A large doorway, with a small postern to the side of it, -occupies the centre of the base, and the apex is pierced with narrow -openings to light, or rather to ventilate, the interior. - - [Illustration: 201B. BARN AT PERRIÈRES. PLAN] - -Tithe-barns were very generally constructed on this plan. When large -and important they had two stories, as at Provins. - -These were not as a rule vaulted, but the granaries, or _greniers -d'abondance_, were often built with three stories, that of the -ground-floor, and even the one above it, being vaulted. The granary of -the Abbey of Vauclair, in the department of Aisne, built towards the -close of the twelfth century, is a very interesting example of such -structures. - - [Illustration: 202. TITHE-BARN AT PROVINS] - - [Illustration: 203. GRANARY OF THE ABBEY OF VAUCLAIR] - -Some idea of the importance of religious establishments at this period -may be gathered from the foregoing details. The great abbeys were -miniature towns, and their dependencies, the priories, consisted of -vast farms, round which large villages soon grew up. The cultivators -of these great holdings combined agricultural labours with their -religious exercises, and the priors in especial were not only priests, -but perhaps even in a greater degree stewards or bailiffs, whose duty -it was to collect payments in kind, such as tithes or other revenues, -to store these, together with the crops of their own raising, and -finally to administer the wealth of every description--lands, woods, -rivers, and ponds--belonging to the abbey. - - -_Hospitals._--A large number of charitable institutions, called in -the Middle Ages _maisons dieu_, _hôtels dieu_, hospices, hospitals, -and lazar-houses, were founded in the eleventh century, and greatly -developed in the twelfth and thirteenth. - -A hospital was attached to most of the large abbeys or their -dependencies. The cities also owned hospitals founded or served by -monks. - -Lazar-houses had multiplied throughout Western Europe by the end of -the twelfth century, from Denmark to Spain, from England to Bohemia -and Hungary; but these buildings gave little scope to the architect. -They consisted merely of an enclosure surrounding a few isolated -cells, and a chapel, attached to which were the lodgings of the monks -who tended the lepers. - - [Illustration: 204. HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN AT ANGERS (TWELFTH CENTURY). - GREAT HALL, AS RESTORED BY A. VERDIER] - -But many of the hospices or hospitals built from the end of the -twelfth to the fourteenth century are magnificent buildings, in -general arrangement much resembling the great halls of the abbeys. - -It must be borne in mind that hospitality in the Middle Ages -was obligatory; each monastery, therefore, had its eleemosynary -organisation, which included special buildings for the accommodation -of monks whose business it was to tend the sick and to distribute alms -to them and other travellers and pilgrims. - - [Illustration: 205. ABBEY OF OURSCAMPS (OISE, THIRTEENTH CENTURY). - HOSPITAL. AS RESTORED BY A. VERDIER] - -We learn from Viollet-le-Duc that so early as the Carlovingian -period taxes were levied in aid of the poor, the sick, and pilgrims. -Charlemagne had enjoined hospitality in his ordinances and -capitularies, and it was forbidden to refuse shelter, fire, and water -to any suppliant. - - [Illustration: 206. LAZAR-HOUSE AT TORTOIR (AISNE, FOURTEENTH - CENTURY). FROM DRAWINGS BY A. VERDIER] - -The communes vied with kings, nobles, abbots, and citizens in the -discharge of such duties. Hospices and hospitals were founded on -every hand, either in deserted buildings, or in specially constructed -edifices. - -Refuges were also built on roads much frequented by pilgrims to -shelter belated travellers, and hospices were constructed outside the -walls and close to the city gates. - -Pilgrimages were much in vogue in the Middle Ages, especially -throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The sanctuaries -of St. Michael in Normandy, and of St. James of Compostella in Spain, -were the most frequented. At the beginning of the thirteenth century -a hospice was founded outside Paris, near the Porte St. Denis, which -was dedicated to St. James. This hospice, with its chapel, was served -by the confraternity of _St. Jacques aux Pèlerins_ (St. James of -Pilgrims), and offered gratuitous shelter each night to pilgrims bound -for Paris. Its buildings covered two acres; they included a great hall -of stone, vaulted on intersecting arches, and measuring some 132 feet -by 36, for the accommodation of the sick. - -In a file of accounts of the fifteenth century, concluding with -an appeal for funds, it is stated that, for the convenience of -pilgrims--_y a lieu pour ce faire XVIIJ liz qui depuis le premier jour -d'aoust MCCCLXVIIJ jusques au jour de Mons. S. Jacques et Christofle -ensuivant on estés logés et hebergés en l'hospital de céans_ XV^m VI^c -IIII^{xx}X _pèlerins qui aloient et venoient au Mont Saint Michel et -austres pèlerins. Et encore sont logés continuellement chascune nuict -de XXXVI à XL povres pèlerins et austres povres, pourquoy le povre -hospital est moult chargé et en grant nécessité de liz, de couvertures -et de draps._[69] - -In the first years of the fourteenth century several hundreds of -_hôtels dieu_, hospitals, and lazar-houses received help from the -King of France. St. Louis founded the _Hospice des Quinze-Vingts_ for -the blind, and in many towns hospitals were erected for the insane, -the old, and the infirm, in addition to the usual lazar-houses. -Special hospitals had already been established for women in labour, -and a chapel was founded for their benefit in the crypt of the _Ste. -Chapelle_ of Paris, dedicated to Our Lady of Travail, of Tombelaine, -in Normandy.[70] - -[69] "Eighteen beds have been in use, and from the first day of -August 1368 to the feast of SS. James and Christopher following (July -25, 1369) this hospital has lodged and sheltered 16,690 pilgrims -journeying to or from St. Michael's Mount, besides others. And it -has further given shelter each night to some thirty-six to forty -poor pilgrims and other needy persons, whereby the poor hospital is -heavily burdened and in sore straits for lack of beds, sheets, and -blankets."--Ed. Corroyer, _Description de l'Abbaye du Mont St. Michel -et de ses Abords_; Paris, 1877. - -[70] _Idem._ - - [Illustration: 207. HOSPITAL AT TONNERRE. SECTION OF THE GREAT HALL] - -Several hospitals of the Gothic period still exist. That of St. John -at Angers is one of the most remarkable. It comprises a great hall, -divided into three aisles, and vaulted on intersecting arches, and -a chapel dating from the close of the twelfth or beginning of the -thirteenth century. The fine barn at Angers is of the same period; -the plan and details of construction are very curious, and resemble -those of the barns and granaries already described. - -The _Hôtel Dieu_ of Chartres dates from about the same period. - -The hospital of Ourscamps, near Noyon, is very similar as to the -scheme of construction which seems to have been one generally adopted -by the religious architects of the twelfth, and more notably of the -thirteenth century. The grandiose proportions of the vast building -recall the great vaulted halls of contemporary abbeys, such as those -of St. Jean des Vignes at Soissons, and of the _merveille_ at Mont -St. Michel. Certain individual features characterise it as a hospice -specially designed for the sick, the poor, and pilgrims. - -The Hospice of Tonnerre appears to have been rebuilt in the fourteenth -century. The vast design is very impressively carried out. The great -hall, over 60 feet wide by some 300 long, is covered with an open -timber roof, boarded in so as to form a semi-circular vault, which is -singularly effective. - -The internal arrangements are very ingenious. A wooden gallery in the -half-story commanded a view into each unceiled cubicle, by means of -which it was possible to keep constant watch over the patients without -disturbing them. - -The hospital of Beaune has been so often described as to call for -little comment. The painted timber vault of the great hall seems to -have been imitated from that of Tonnerre. Its distinctive character -has unfortunately been destroyed by the construction of a ceiling, -the joists of which rest on the tie-beams of the original skeleton. -But the inner court is intact, with the arcade and well and wash-house -so familiar from descriptions and illustrations. Another picturesque -and often described feature is the great roof on the south side, with -its double row of dormer windows surmounted by a rich ornamentation of -hammered lead. - -In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the practice of vaulting the -great halls of hospitals with stone was abandoned. It became usual in -France and in Flanders to cover the vast aisles with timber roofs, the -boarded vaults of which were either pointed or barrel-shaped. - -The term _maladrerie_ was applied to the small lazar-houses, numbers -of which were built in France in the neighbourhood of abbeys or of -priories remote from towns and great religious centres. - -The _Maladrerie du Tortoir_, not far from Laon, on the _Route de la -Fère_, is a type of such rural hospitals. Both in plan and in the -details of construction it recalls the hospital of Tonnerre, more -especially in the ingenious arrangement of the interior. - -In the planning of these charitable institutions mediæval architects -exhibited the same skill and ingenuity which distinguished their -treatment of religious monuments. Viollet-le-Duc has pointed out -the strange illogicality of such a theory as that which would make -artists who showed extraordinary subtlety in religious buildings -responsible for so much coarseness in civil structures. We must not -hold them accountable for the destruction of their well-planned -hospitals from the sixteenth century onwards, and the substitution of -buildings, the main preoccupation of whose architects was to provide -accommodation for as many patients as possible. Louis XIV. endowed the -hospitals built in his reign with the revenues of the lazar-houses -and _maladreries_, for which there was no further occasion, leprosy -having disappeared from his dominions. But his hospitals leave much to -be desired from the hygienic point of view; the mediæval hospitals, -on the other hand, have a monumental simplicity of appearance, and -offer a liberal supply of light, air, and space to their patients. We -do not assert the superiority of the cellular system commonly adopted -in hospitals from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, over that of -the open wards of our own times, but we may be permitted to point out -its great moral advantages. And, as our learned authority remarks, the -system owed its adoption to a noble delicacy of charitable feeling in -the mediæval founders and builders of our _maisons dieu_. - - -_Houses and Hôtels, or Town-Houses of the Nobility._--The history -of human habitations is a subject of such interest that to treat it -adequately a special work would be necessary. Such an undertaking has, -moreover, been admirably carried out by a famous architect.[71] - -[71] Ch. Garnier, Member of the Institute, whose picturesque -embodiment of research, in his reconstruction of human habitations -from the lacustrine period to our own times, attracted so much -attention at the Exhibition of 1889. - -We must refrain from discussion of prehistoric or Merovingian -dwellings, or of those rural hovels, the typical variations of -which, in different countries and climates, offers so wide a field -for study. To keep within the limits assigned us by the arbitrary -term Gothic Architecture, we must confine our rapid sketch to the -architectural period which dates from the middle of the twelfth to the -close of the fifteenth century. - - [Illustration: 208. HOUSE AT CLUNY (TWELFTH CENTURY)] - -Nothing remains of habitations constructed in France before the -twelfth century, save the vague and scanty records of ancient texts, -manuscripts, and bas-reliefs. But we may reasonably infer that the -houses of the period were built of wood, as was natural in a country -containing great tracts of forest. We know that most of the important -buildings were timber structures, which explains the fact that numbers -of twelfth-century churches were founded on the sites of earlier -buildings destroyed by fire. - -Roman, Gallo-Roman, and Merovingian houses were arranged to suit the -habits of the times; they were lighted by windows opening upon an -inner courtyard, in accordance with the ancient custom of separating -the women's apartments from the rest of the habitation. - - [Illustration: 208A. HOUSE AT CLUNY (TWELFTH CENTURY)] - -But by the end of the twelfth century the urban dwelling was adapted -to the needs of a family. The doors and windows of the house were made -to overlook the street. The building consisted generally of a hall -or shop, in which a handicraft was carried on, or manufactured goods -were offered for sale. It was lighted by a wide arcade of round or -pointed arches, and was either on a level with the street, or raised -above it by the height of some few steps. A back room, opening upon -a courtyard, served for kitchen and dining-room. To the left of the -façade a little door gave access to a staircase which led to the -first floor, where was a large _solar_ or living-room and an apartment -overlooking the courtyard. Above these were the chambers occupied by -the inmates of the house. - - [Illustration: 209, 210. HOUSES AT VITTEAUX (CÔTE D'OR), AND AT ST. - ANTONIN (TARN ET GARONNE, THIRTEENTH CENTURY)] - -The architecture of such houses varies according to the climate, -the materials of the country, and the customs of the inhabitants. -The houses had no special individuality as long as the windows were -treated merely as apertures for the admission of light; but directly -these began to take on a certain elaboration, and such features as -mouldings or sculptures were introduced in the façades, a system of -decoration was borrowed from the neighbouring churches or abbeys of -monkish architects, a consequence either of the far-reaching influence -of monastic schools, or of the spirit of imitation and force of habit. - -Certain houses at Cluny, which date from the twelfth century, -exemplify the style. They are built almost entirely of stone. The -arcading recalls various details of monastic buildings which the -constructors very naturally took as models. - - [Illustration: 211. HOUSE AT PROVINS (FOURTEENTH CENTURY)] - - [Illustration: 212. HOUSE AT LAON (FOURTEENTH CENTURY)] - - [Illustration: 213. HOUSE AT CORDES. ALBIGEOIS (FOURTEENTH CENTURY)] - -The same may be said of the other houses, of which we give drawings -as illustrating the urban type of the thirteenth and fifteenth -centuries. It is easy to trace the successive developments of -religious and monastic architecture in the domestic buildings of the -period. - -It is not until the close of the fourteenth century, and more notably -in the fifteenth, that such influences gradually die out, and change, -if not progress, becomes evident in the altered form of the arcades, -which no longer resemble those of cloisters or churches, but have -elliptic or square apertures. These, in the windows, are no longer -subdivided by a stone tracery of ornamental cusps and foliations, but -merely by plain mullions and transoms, forming square compartments -which it was possible to fill with movable glazed sashes of the -simplest construction. - -The façades are generally of durable materials, such as stone or -brick, and the use of wood is restricted to the floors and the roofs. - -Houses of the fifteenth century in the Northern departments, where -stone is scarce, were built mainly of wood, the more solid material -being used only on the ground-floor. The overhanging upper stories -were of timbers, the interstices being filled in with brick. The -principal members, such as corbel tables, beams, ledges, and -window-frames, were decorated with mouldings and sculptures. The -façade usually terminated in a gable, the projecting pointed arch of -which followed the lines of the timber roof. In other cases it was -crowned by richly decorated dormer windows. In rainy districts the -roof was covered with slates or shingles. - - [Illustration: 214. HOUSE AT MONT ST. MICHEL (FIFTEENTH CENTURY)] - - [Illustration: 215. WOODEN HOUSE AT ROUEN (FIFTEENTH CENTURY)] - - [Illustration: 216. WOODEN HOUSE AT ANDELYS (FIFTEENTH CENTURY)] - -It was usual in the North to detach each house at the upper story, -even when it was not practicable to allow a narrow passage or space -between. This was not merely a concession to the vanity of the -citizen, to his desire to make his independent gable a feature of -the street. It was also a precautionary measure against fires, which -were frequent and disastrous in cities built mainly of wood, and -possessing but very rudimentary appliances wherewith to meet such a -catastrophe. - - [Illustration: 217. HÔTEL LALLEMAND AT BOURGES (END OF THE FIFTEENTH - CENTURY)] - -The fifteenth and notably the sixteenth centuries were marked by -the building of a new class of dwellings, the _maisons nobles_, -or town-houses of the nobles, who, down to this period, had lived -entirely in their fortified castles. These great seignorial mansions -differ essentially from the houses of the citizens. The _hôtel_ -occupied a considerable space, in which a courtyard and even gardens -were included. The house of the citizen or merchant was built flush -with the street, whereas the _hôtel_ was placed in an inner court, -often richly decorated, and the street-front was devoted to stables, -coach-houses, servants' lodgings, and the great entrance which gave -access to the court and the main building. - - [Illustration: 218. JACQUES CŒUR'S HOUSE AT BOURGES. VIEW FROM THE - PLACE BERRY (FIFTEENTH CENTURY)] - -The names at least of some famous Parisian _hôtels_ of the fourteenth -and fifteenth centuries have survived, such as the _hôtels_ des -Tournelles, de St. Pol, de Sens, de Nevers, and de la Trémoille, the -last destroyed in 1840. The Hôtel de Cluny, which dates from 1485, is -a very curious example, and of remarkable interest, as having been -preserved almost intact. - -Several great houses of the same period still exist at Bourges. Among -others, the Hôtel Lallemand, built towards the close of the fifteenth -century, the inner court of which is especially noteworthy, and the -still more famous _hôtel_ or _château_ of Jacques Coeur. - -This beautiful structure dates from the second half of the fifteenth -century, and is built in part on the ramparts of the town. It is so -well known that it will be unnecessary to describe or illustrate the -famous portals and inner court. But the façade on the Place Berry, -though less sumptuous, is hardly less interesting. Here we have the -two great towers of the fortified _enceinte_, with their Gallo-Roman -bases, and between them the _corps de logis_ or main buildings of the -mansion, which retain many features of the feudal castle, and bear -witness to the wealth and power of Charles VII.'s ill-used favourite, -the famous banker, whose splendid fortunes suffered such undeserved -eclipse. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - TOWN-HALLS, BELFRIES, PALACES - - -The social evolution which resulted in the enfranchisement of -the communes had its origin in the eleventh century, though the -consummation of this great political change was of much later date. - -Down to the fourteenth century the efforts of the communes to exercise -the rights conferred on them in charters wrung from their feudal lords -received incessant checks. The opposition they encountered is hardly -to be wondered at, seeing that every concession in their favour tended -to diminish the despotic authority of those from whom it had been won. -No sooner, therefore, was a charter rescinded and a commune abolished -than the instant demolition of the town-hall and belfry was demanded. -Hence very few town-halls of earlier date than the fourteenth century -have survived. - - -_Town-halls._--A few of the great Southern cities owned town-halls so -early as the twelfth century, among them Bordeaux, where the building -was of the Roman type, and Toulouse, whose town-hall was practically a -fortalice. - - [Illustration: 219. TOWN-HALL OF PIENZA, ITALY (END OF THE FOURTEENTH - CENTURY)] - -But by far the greater number of the infant communes were sunk in -poverty, and so overwhelmed with dues and taxes that they had no -margin for communal buildings. - -In the fourteenth century even the commune of Paris could boast only -the most modest of town-halls. In 1357 Étienne Marcel, provost of -the merchants, bought from the collector of the salt-tax a small -two-gabled building which adjoined several private dwellings. We may, -therefore, conclude that down to this period the town-hall was in -nowise distinguished from an ordinary habitation. - -At the close of the century Caen possessed a town-hall of four stories. - -During the thirteenth century many new towns and communes had been -founded by the Crown, the nobles, and the clergy, the depositaries of -power in the Middle Ages. - -In the North, Villeneuve le Roi, Villeneuve le Comte, and Villeneuve -l'Archevêque owed their existence, material and communal, to these -powers respectively. - -In the South the war of the Albigenses had devastated and even -destroyed many cities. The authorities recognised the necessity of -repeopling the districts so cruelly decimated. The great nobles, -spiritual and temporal, reconcentrated the scattered population by -grants of lands for the building of new towns, and sought to establish -them permanently by apparently liberal concessions in the form of -communal franchises. - -According to Caumont and Anthyme St. Paul, these new towns or -_bastides_ may be identified by their names, or by their regularity of -plan, or by both combined. - -Certain names indicate a royal foundation or dependency, as Réalville -or Monréal; others point to privileges conferred on the town, as -Bonneville, La Sauvetat, Sauveterre, Villefranche, or even La Bastide, -and Villeneuve. - - [Illustration: 220. TOWN-HALL AND BELFRY AT YPRES (BELGIUM)] - -A third class borrow the names of French and occasionally of foreign -provinces or towns. Anthyme St. Paul gives a list of such in the -_Annuaire de l'archéologie française_,--Barcelone or Barcelonnette, -Beauvais, Boulogne, Bruges, Cadix, Cordes (for Cordova), Fleurance -(for Florence), Bretagne, Cologne, Valence, Miélan (for Milan), La -Française and Francescas, Grenade, Libourne (for Leghorn), Modène, -Pampelonne (for Pampeluna), etc. - -A new town or _bastide_ is usually rectangular in plan, and measures -some 750 by 580 feet. Sauveterre d'Aveyron is an example. In the -centre is a square, into which a street debouches on each side, -thus dividing the town into four parts. The square is surrounded by -galleries or cloisters, of round or pointed arches, covered with a -timber roof or vault, with or without transverse arches, whence the -term _Place des Couverts_, still common in some Southern towns. - -In the centre of the square stood the town-hall, the ground-floor -of which was used as a public market. Montréjeau is one of the -towns in which this regularity of construction is observed, also -Montpazier, the streets of which are lined with wide arcades of -pointed arches. Other examples are to be found at Eymet, Domme, and -Beaumont, Libourne, Ste. Foy, and Sauveterre de Guyenne, Damazan, -and Montflanquin, Rabastens, Mirande, Grenade, Isle d'Albi, and -Réalmont, etc. Several _bastides_ in Guyenne were founded by the -English. Finally, the lower town of Carcassonne, founded in 1247, and -Aigues-Mortes, founded in 1248, also belong to the class of _bastides_ -or new towns.[72] - -[72] See Part III., "Military Architecture." - -"The series of Southern _bastides_, inaugurated in 1222 by the -foundation of Cordes-Albigeois, was brought to a close in 1344 by -a petition of the town-councillors of Toulouse, in answer to which -the king forbade any further settlements. Two hundred at least of -the _bastides_ still exist in Guyenne, Gascony, Languedoc, and the -neighbouring districts. Several of these were unprosperous, and are -still small villages. In some cases their close proximity tended -greatly to their mutual disadvantage."[73] - -[73] Anthyme St. Paul, _Histoire Monumentale de la France_. - - [Illustration: 221. MARKET AND BELFRY AT BRUGES (BELGIUM)] - - [Illustration: 222. TOWN-HALL OF BRUGES (BELGIUM)] - -It is worthy of remark that civil architecture had so greatly -developed by the fifteenth century as to react in its turn upon -the religious art to which it owed its birth. It gave to religious -architecture certain new forms, such as the elliptic arch, adopted at -the close of the fifteenth and throughout the following century, at -which period civil architecture reached its apogee. - -The Southern communes preserved their franchises till the sixteenth -century, that disastrous era of religious warfare which involved the -destruction of innumerable buildings. - -The town-hall of St. Antonin (Tarn et Garonne) is perhaps the only -surviving one of the period. With the exception of the belfry, it -is an almost perfect type of the architecture of this class in the -thirteenth century, to which date it may probably be assigned (Fig. -200). - -The little town of St. Antonin, which had obtained its communal -charter in 1136, suffered much for its fidelity to Raymond VI., Count -of Toulouse. During the war of the Albigenses it was twice taken by -Simon de Montfort, whose son, Guy de Montfort, sold it to St. Louis in -1226. It was at this period, no doubt, that the present building was -erected. It has the characteristic feature of the civic monument, the -_belfry_, which, in the Middle Ages, was the architectural expression -of municipal authority and jurisdiction. - -The building is a simple rectangular structure, over which the square -tower rises to the right. The ground-floor is a market, communicating -with an adjoining market-place, and with the narrow street which -passes under the belfry. The _grande salle_ or municipal hall -occupies the first story, together with a smaller apartment in the -tower. The second story is divided in the same manner. - - [Illustration: 223. TOWN-HALL AT LOUVAIN (BELGIUM)] - -We have already called attention to the far-reaching influence of -French art as manifested in religious architecture so early as the -close of the twelfth century. Such influences were no less paramount -in developments of civil architecture, and we find municipal -buildings of the fourteenth century in Italy--at Pienza and other -towns--in which not only analogies but points of identity with the -thirteenth-century example of St. Antonin are distinctly traceable. - -The municipal buildings of the North, the most perfect types of which -are those of Germany and Belgium, are nearly uniform in plan. A belfry -rises from the centre of the façade, flanked right and left on the -first story by the great civic halls. The ground-floor is a market for -the sale of merchandise. - -The cloth-hall of Ypres (so named since the construction of a new -town-hall in the seventeenth century) is one of the most beautiful of -such examples. The building was begun in 1202, but was not completed -till 1304. The façade measures 440 feet in length, and has a double -row of pointed windows. It terminates at each angle in a very graceful -pinnacle, and the centre is marked by a noble square belfry of vast -size, the oldest portion of the building, the foundation-stone of -which was laid by Baldwin IX. of Flanders in 1200. - -The belfry of Bruges, which was begun at the close of the thirteenth -century, and completed some hundred years later, is another most -interesting example of the civic buildings of its period. - -The structure consists of a market and the usual municipal halls, -crowned by the lofty belfry, the original height of which was 350 feet. - - [Illustration: 224. BELFRY OF TOURNAI (BELGIUM)] - - [Illustration: 225. BELFRY OF GHENT (BELGIUM)] - -The _hôtel de ville_ or town-hall of Bruges, which replaced an -earlier municipal building in the _Place du Bourg_, dates from -between 1376 to 1387. Its architectural character differs entirely -from that of the belfry. Its elegant design and the richness of its -ornamentation give it the appearance rather of a sumptuously decorated -chapel than of a civic building. - -We may close the list of Belgian town-halls of the fourteenth and -fifteenth centuries with that of Louvain. The design and general -scheme of elaborate decoration are akin to those of the hall of -Bruges, and it bears the same ecclesiastical impress. - -It was built between 1448 and 1463 by _Mathieu de Layens, master -mason of the town and its outskirts_, and is a rectangular building -of three stories. The gable ends are pierced with three rows of -pointed windows, and adorned with a rich profusion of mouldings, -statues, and sculptured ornament. The steep roof has four tiers of -dormer-windows. The angles are flanked by graceful openwork turrets, -with delicate pinnacles, and similar turrets receive the ridge of the -roof at either end. The lateral façades are adorned with three rows of -statues and allegorical sculptures, covering the whole with a wealth -of exquisite tracery. Its lace-like delicacy has suffered considerably -from the action of weather, and it was found necessary to renovate a -considerable portion of the ornament in 1840. - - -_Belfries._--In the early days of the enfranchisement of the communes, -it became customary to call the community together by means of bells, -which at that period were confined to the church towers, and which it -was unlawful to ring without the consent of the clergy. It may easily -be conceived to what incessant broils the new order gave rise, the -clergy as a body being strongly opposed to the separatist tendency -of measures which attacked their feudal rights. The municipalities -finally put an end to internecine warfare in this connection by -hanging bells of their own over the town-gates, a custom which was -superseded towards the close of the twelfth and beginning of the -thirteenth century by the erection of towers for the civic bells. Such -was the origin of the _belfry_, the earliest material expression of -communal independence. - -The structure usually formed part of the town-hall, but was sometimes -an isolated building. The isolated belfry was a great square tower of -several stories, crowned by a timber roof protected either by slates -or lead. The great bells hung in one story, and above them the little -bells of the carillon. - -A lodging, opening upon a surrounding gallery, was constructed in the -upper story for the accommodation of the watchman, whose duty it was -to warn the inhabitants of approaching danger and to give notice of -fires. The bells rang at sunrise and curfew. - -The chimes (_carillon_) marked the hours and their subdivisions, and -at festival seasons mingled their joyous notes with the deep and -solemn voice of the great bell. - -The custom of tolling the great bell to give notice of a fire still -obtains in many villages of the North, the greater number of which -have preserved their belfries in spite of the modifications they have -undergone at different periods. - -The belfry tower usually contained a prison, a hall for the -town-councillors, a muniment room, and a magazine for arms. It was -long the only town-hall of a commune. - - [Illustration: 226. BELFRY AT CALAIS (FRANCE)] - -We shall find examples of these early municipal buildings among the -isolated belfries of Belgium, such as that at Tournai, founded in -1187, and rebuilt in part at the close of the fourteenth century, and -that of Ghent, the square tower of which dates from the end of the -twelfth century. Its spire is a modern addition. - -A few buildings of this particular class still exist in France. -Such is the belfry of Calais, the square tower of which was built -during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is crowned by an -octagonal superstructure, begun at the close of the fifteenth century, -and completed in the early years of the seventeenth. The belfry of -Béthune, which dates from the fourteenth century, is another. It -consists of a square tower reinforced at three of its angles by a -hexagonal turret, corbelled out from the wall. The fourth turret is -of the same shape, but here the projection is carried up from the -ground-floor, and contains the spiral staircase which communicates -with the various stories of the tower, and terminates on the embattled -parapet above. The building is completed by a pyramidal spire of great -elegance, crowned by the watchman's tower. The plan and details of -this superstructure proclaim it the source whence the gable turrets -of Louvain were derived. The great bells hang in the uppermost story, -the smaller ones of the carillon in the story below. On each façade at -the summit of the tower a great dial marks the hours, as was customary -from the fourteenth century onwards, when town-clocks first came into -general use. - -The towns of Auxerre, Beaune, Amiens, Évreux, and Avignon still -possess their belfries. - -To the belfry of Amiens, which dates from the thirteenth century, a -square dome was added some hundred years ago. But the great bell of -the fourteenth century has been preserved. - - [Illustration: 227. BELFRY OF BETHUNE (FRANCE)] - - [Illustration: 228. BELFRY OF ÉVREUX] - -The belfry of Évreux retains its fifteenth-century character almost -in its entirety. That of Avignon, a monument of the close of the -fifteenth century, was happily spared when the town-hall was replaced -by a modern structure. - - [Illustration: 229. BELFRY OF AVIGNON] - -The gate-house of the _hôtel de ville_ at Bordeaux, known as the -_grosse cloche_, is an example of the more ancient usage. Here we -find the bell hung over the gateway, as already described. The belfry -of Bordeaux, which appears to date from the fifteenth century, is -very remarkable. It consists of two towers connected by a curtain -through which is an arched passage. A second arch protects the great -bell in the upper story, and the whole is surmounted by a central -roof, flanked right and left by the conical crowns of the lateral -turrets. - - [Illustration: 230. BELFRY GATE AT BORDEAUX, KNOWN AS _LA GROSSE - CLOCHE_] - -Markets, warehouses, and exchanges were often annexes of the -town-halls. A few examples of such buildings have been preserved, but -those of the third class are extremely rare. A specimen, remarkable -both for construction and decoration, which recall the Spanish -architecture of the fourteenth century, still exists at Perpignan. It -is a house known as _La Loge_, built in 1396, which originally served -as exchange to the cloth merchants of French Catalonia and Roussillon. - - -_Palaces._--In the Middle Ages the name palace was given to the -dwelling of the sovereign. Its chief feature was the basilica or -judgment-hall. - -The great nobles followed the royal example and constructed palaces in -the capitals of their feofs, as at Dijon, Troyes, and Poitiers, which -are the most important of such examples. - -The town-houses of archbishops and bishops were also called palaces. - -The courts, parliaments, and tribunals of the executive were held -in the palace of the suzerain or the bishop, where certain of the -buildings were open to the public. The important feature, the great -hall (_grand salle_), occupied a vast covered space in which the -plenary courts were held, the vassals assembled, and banquets were -given. It communicated with galleries or ambulatories. A chapel was -always included in the plan of the palace, which consisted of the -lodging of the lord and his followers; offices, often of great extent; -rooms for the storing of archives; magazines, prisons, and innumerable -auxiliary buildings, divided by courtyards, and in some cases by -gardens. - - [Illustration: 231. CLOTH HALL AT PERPIGNAN, KNOWN AS _LA LOGE_] - -In Paris the palace proper, which was in the Île de la Cité, consisted -of buildings constructed from the time of St. Louis to the reign of -Philip the Fair. From the reign of Charles V. it was specially devoted -to the administration of justice. - -The only remains of the buildings of St. Louis are the _Ste. -Chapelle_, the two great towers with their intervening curtain on the -_Quai de l'Horloge_, and the square clock tower at the angle of the -quay. - -The best examples of seignorial castles are: Troyes, which was built -by the Counts of Champagne, and inhabited by them till they removed -to Provins in the thirteenth century; and the palace of the Counts of -Poitiers at Poitiers, one of the most interesting of such buildings; -it was burnt by the English in 1346, and repaired or rebuilt at the -close of the fourteenth century by the brother of Charles V., Jean, -Duke of Berry, to whom we owe, among other architectural works, the -curious fireplace of the great vestibule, called the _Salle des Pas -Perdus_, in the _Palais de Justice_. - - [Illustration: 232. BISHOP'S PALACE AT LAON] - -The bishops' palaces were differently planned. They usually adjoined -the cathedrals, with which they communicated either on the north -or the south, according to the facilities afforded by the site. -The characteristic symbol of episcopal power which, in the earlier -centuries of the Middle Ages, claimed jurisdiction both in spiritual -and temporal matters, was the great hall, in later days the synod -house and the council chamber of the executive. The bishop's palace in -Paris, rebuilt by Maurice de Sully in 1160, preserved this mediæval -feature, which is even more conspicuous at Sens, in the magnificent -annexe known as the _salle synodale_ (synod house). - - [Illustration: 233. ARCHBISHOP'S PALACE AT ALBI. PLAN] - -The canons' lodgings were also in close proximity to the cathedral, -but on the side opposite to the bishop's palace. They were surrounded -by an enclosure, the gates of which were fastened at night. It was -the duty of the canons to aid the bishop in his ministrations. They -lived together in annexes which communicated with the cathedral by -means of galleries and cloisters.[74] - -[74] See Part II., "Monastic Architecture," the cloisters of -Puy-en-Velay and Elne in Roussillon. - -The bishops' palaces were often remarkable for their elaborate -construction. Fragments of the primitive buildings are still preserved -in the palaces of Beauvais, Angers, Bayeux, and Auxerre. - - [Illustration: 234. ARCHBISHOP'S PALACE AT ALBI. GENERAL VIEW] - -The ancient episcopal palace of Laon[75] marks a development in -thirteenth-century architecture. It is a good example of that system -of construction by which the palace was connected with the city -ramparts and formed a secondary line of defence. - -[75] The episcopate was transferred to Soissons in 1809. - -This system was also adopted at Narbonne. At the close of the -thirteenth and during the fourteenth century the palace was -transformed into a fortress, the importance of which bore witness -to the power of its bishops. After Avignon, it is perhaps the most -imposing of episcopal dwellings. - -From this time onward the bishops' palaces increased greatly in size, -their dimensions extending proportionately with those of the great -cathedrals of the period. The importance of the episcopal buildings -and their dependencies was on a par with the wealth and power of -their owners. Some idea of their magnificence may be gathered from -the private chapel of the archbishop at Rheims, which dates from the -middle of the thirteenth century. - - [Illustration: 235. PALACE OF THE POPES AT AVIGNON. PLAN] - -The archbishop's palace at Albi has all the character of a feudal -castle. Its buildings are protected by a keep, and encircled by walls -and towers connected both with the ramparts of the city, and with -that more important fortalice, the cathedral itself, the tower of -which is, in fact, a formidable keep.[76] - -[76] See Part I., Cathedral of Albi, Figs. 70-73. - -The transformation of church and palace into fortresses by an -elaborate system of defence was necessitated by the wars which ravaged -the district, and from which Albi suffered more cruelly than any other -town. - -The palace of the popes at Avignon which Pope Benedict XII. began to -build in the fourteenth century, and the bishop's palace at Narbonne, -are among the finest specimens of ecclesiastical fortification in the -Middle Ages.[77] - -[77] For the Palace of the Popes, see Albert Lenoir and Viollet-le-Duc. - -The Popes, having established themselves at Avignon in the fourteenth -century, built a huge mansion on the rock known as the _Rocher des -Doms_, which overlooks the Rhone. In 1336 Benedict XII., having -destroyed his predecessor's palace, laid the foundations of the -immense fortified pile now in existence. The plans were the work of -the French architect, Pierre Obrier. The building was added to by -the successors of Benedict XII., Popes Clement VI., Innocent VI., -and Urban V., and was completed, or at any rate made efficient for -defence, by 1398, when Pedro de Luna, who became pope under the title -of Benedict XIII., sustained a memorable siege therein. - -The whole building, which covers a very considerable area, was -completed in less than sixty years. Its formidable mass was further -strengthened by the fortified _enceinte_ of the town, some three -miles in circumference. - -In general conception, in the architectural skill of its construction, -and in its tasteful decoration, the Palace of the Popes at Avignon -bears away the palm from all contemporary buildings in Germany and -Italy, where French influences were paramount. - - [Illustration: 236. PALACE OF THE POPES AT AVIGNON. GENERAL VIEW] - -This noble monument is absolutely and entirely French. No finer -combination of religious, monastic, military, and civil types could -be desired in illustration of the art we have agreed to term _Gothic -Architecture_, but which might be more truly entitled: _Our National -Architecture in the Middle Ages_. - -Justice indeed demands this tardy homage. Our vast churches, our -superb cathedrals, our mighty castles and palace fortresses, the -masterpieces that fill our museums--manifestations of artistic -power which should move us, not to servile imitation but to fruitful -study,--all were the creations of _native_ architects. - -That expansive force which made our national art the great civilising -medium of the Middle Ages was derived from our own early architects, -civil and religious. The principles and practice of monumental art -were carried by French architects into all countries, though the -results of their teaching are more conspicuous in Italy and Germany -than elsewhere. Native builders and artists established the supremacy -of French art throughout Western Europe, and even in the East. And -though the foreign evolution, which marked the sixteenth century, did -indeed exercise a transient influence in France, it must be remembered -that the way had been prepared for this apparently novel movement by -those French artists who have carried the fame of our beloved country -throughout the civilised world. - - - THE END - - - _Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_. - - - - - _BY THE PRESENT EDITOR Price 21s., Cloth._ - - - THE SCOTTISH PAINTERS - - A CRITICAL STUDY - - - BY WALTER ARMSTRONG, B.A. OXON. - - AUTHOR OF "ALFRED STEVENS," ETC. - - _WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS_ - - PRESS OPINIONS - -"A valuable contribution towards that much needed work, the history of -British art.... 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All obvious spelling and punctuation errors have been corrected, also - hyphenation and accentuation. - - 2. Text in italics is shown as _text_. - - 3. 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