CHAPTER II.BASILICAS.

CONTENTS.

Plan of St. Gall—Church at Mittelzell in island of Reichenau—Romain-Motier— Granson—Church at Gernrode—Trèves—Hildesheim—Cathedrals of Worms and Spires—Churches at Cologne—Other churches and chapels—Double churches—Swiss churches.

Asjust mentioned, the history of Gothic architecture in Germany commences practically with Charlemagne; and, by a fortunate accident, we are able to begin our account of it by quoting from a contemporary illustration of the greatest interest and importance. In the library of the monastery of St. Gall, in Switzerland, a manuscript plan of a great monastic establishment was found by Mabillon in the 17th century, and published by him in the second volume of the ‘Annals of the Benedictine Order.’ The name of the author is not known; but, from some dedicatory verses on the back, it appears certain that it was sent to Gospertus, who was abbot of the monastery, in the beginning of the 9th century, and who in fact rebuilt the church and part of the monastic buildings between the years 820 and 830. Mabillon conjectures that the plan was prepared by Eginwald, the friend of Charlemagne, and who was also the director of his buildings. It is by no means improbable that this may have been the case, though it does not seem possible to prove it.

It is a matter of extreme difficulty to decide how far this plan was followed in the erection of either the church or monastery of St. Gall at this remote period, for everything there has been altered at subsequent times; nor is it very important to enquire. The plan does not pretend to represent any particular establishment, but is a “projet” of what was then considered a perfect monastery. In this respect it resembles the plans of fortified towns which are engraved in our books of fortification representing the systems of Vauban, Coehorn, Montalembert, &c., and which, though applicablemutatis mutandisto every place, have never literally been carried out in any one. It is in factan illustration of the Benedictine system, as applicable to Germany in the ninth century, in its completed and most perfect form, and on this account is far more interesting to us than if it had been merely a plan of any particular monastery.

The plan itself is on four sheets of parchment sewn together, and is so large (2 ft. 7 in. by 3 ft. 7 in.) that only a small portion of it can be reproduced here, and that on a reduced scale.

The whole group of buildings was apparently meant to occupy a space of about 450 ft. by 300. On the north side of the church was situated the abbot’s lodging (B), with a covered way into the church, and an arcade on either face; his kitchen and offices being detached, and situated to the eastward. To the westward of this was the public school (C), and still farther in the same direction the hospitium or guest-house (D D), with accommodation attached to it for the horses and servants of strangers.

Beyond the abbot’s house to the eastward was the dispensary (E), and beyond that again the residence of the doctor (F), with his garden for medical herbs and simples at the extreme corner of the monastery.

To the eastward of the great church was situated another small double-apse church (G G), divided into two by a wall across the centre.

On either side of this church was a cloister, surrounded by apartments: that on the north was the infirmary, next to the doctor’s residence, and to it the western portion of the chapel was attached. The other was the school and residence of the novices. Beyond these was the orchard (H), which was also the cemetery of the monks; and still farther to the southward were situated the kitchen-garden, the poultry-yard, the granaries, mills, bakehouses, and other offices. These last are not shown in the woodcut, for want of space.

On the south side of the church was situated the great cloister (I), and further to the south of this was the refectory (J), with a detached kitchen (K), which also opened into the great wine-cellar (L); and opposite to this was the dormitory (M), with its various dependent buildings.

To the westward was another hospitium (N), apparently for an inferior class of guests; and to the southward and westward (O O) were placed the stables for horses, cattle, sheep, and all the animals required for so large an establishment, the whole arranged with as much skill and care as can be found in the best modern farms.

686. Reduction of an Original Plan of a Monastery at St. Gall.

The principal point of interest is the church, which was designed to be 200 ft. long from east to west and 80 ft. in width, divided into three aisles by two rows of columns; the centre aisle being 40, the outer each 20 ft. in width. It has two apses; the principal one towards the east (A) has a vaulted crypt, in which is a confessio, meant to contain the relics of the patron saint, St. Gall. In front of this is a choir, arranged very much on the model of that of S. Clemente at Rome, beforedescribed.[54]The western apse, on the same level as the floor of the church, was to be dedicated to St. Paul, and the eastern one to St. Peter. Between the two choirs is the font, and the altar of St. John the Baptist, and on each side are a range of altars dedicated to various saints. Behind both apses are open spaces or paradises (R R) (parvise), that to the west is surrounded by an open semicircular porch, by which the public were to gain access to the church; and on either side of this, but detached, are two circular towers (P P), each with an altar on its summit, one dedicated to the archangel Michael, the other to Gabriel: these were to be reached by circular stairs or inclined planes. No mention is made of bells, and the text would seem to intimate rather that the towers were designed for watch-towers or observatories. The similarity of their position and form to that of the Irish round towers is most remarkable; but whether this was in compliment to the Irish saint to whom the monastery owed its origin, or whether we must look to Ravenna for the type, are questions not easily determined at the present date, for we know far too little as yet of the archæology of the age to speak with certainty on any such questions. It is by no means improbable that the meaning and origin of these and of the Irish towers were the same; but whether it was a form exclusively belonging to a Celtic or Irish race, or common to all churches of that age, is what we cannot now decide from the imperfect data at our command.

On either side of the east end of the church is an apartment, where the transept is usually found; that on the south is the vestry (S); on the north is the library (T), and attached to the church on the same side is the schoolmaster’s house (U), and beyond that the porter’s (V).

All the living apartments have stoves in the angles, but the dormitory has a most scientific arrangement for heating; the furnace is at (X), and the smoke is conveyed away by a detached shaft at (Y), between which there must have been some arrangement of flues beneath the floor for heating the sleeping-apartment of the monks.

Were it not that the evidence is so incontrovertible, we should feel little inclined to fancy that the monasteries of this dark age showed such refinement and such completeness as is here evidenced; for at no period of their history can anything more perfect be found. In the church especially, the two apses, the number of altars, the crypt and its accompaniments, the sacristy, the library, &c., many of which things have generally been considered as the invention of subsequent ages, are marked out distinctly and clearly, as well-understood and usual arrangements of ecclesiastical edifices. This plan in fact refutes at once all the arguments regarding the dates of churches which havebeen founded on the supposed era of the introduction of these accessories.

By another fortunate coincidence there is a church still standing at Mittelzell, on the island of Reichenau, in the lake of Constance, within thirty miles of St. Gall, which certainly belongs to this date, and is unaltered in nearly all its principal features. It was finished, or at least dedicated, in the year 816, and therefore this event took place just before the rebuilding of St. Gall commenced.[55]

687. Plan of Church at Mittelzell. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

688. Elevation of West End of Church at Mittelzell. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

As will be seen from the plan (Woodcut No.687) the dimensions of the two churches are nearly the same; on the St. Gall plan they are written 200 ft. by 80. This church is 230 by 83 English feet, but the eastern[56]apse has been rebuilt on a more extended scale, and if we restore its original circular forms, we bring its dimensions so nearly to those of the St. Gall plan that, if its author used what we now know as French feet, the dimensions of the two may be considered as identical. The pier-arches of the nave are plain, and the whole arrangement is not unlike that of the nave of Montier-en-Der (Woodcut No.610). One of the most remarkable peculiarities of the Reichenau church is the door behind the altar in the western apse, and the great window looking into it, with double stairs which lead up to it, as though the bishop’s throne was placed there above the heads of all. The two principal entrances were, as shown in Woodcut No.688, on each side of the western apse, and the whole of the elevation—in so far as it is preserved—retains the original design. Although retaining the wooden roof, and never apparently intended to be vaulted, this church is purely Romanesque in all its details. There is not a classical featureabout it, and we are rather startled to find a Barbarian style so complete at so early an age, and so far removed from anything that could with propriety be called debased Roman.[57]

689. Plan of the Church at Romain-Motier. (From Blavignac.[58]) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

There are other churches in this neighbourhood scarcely less ancient in date than this one at Mittelzell, and almost as interesting in their arrangement. Among these may be mentioned that of Romain-Motier, the body of which certainly remains as it was when consecrated in the year 753. The narthex, which is in two storeys, may be a century or two later, and the porch and east end are of the pointed style of the 12th or 13th century. The vaulting of the nave also can hardly be coeval with the original building.

690. View of the Church of Romain-Motier. (From Blavignac.)

From other examples in the neighbourhood, we may safely infer that it originally terminated eastward in one or three apses. Supposing these to be restored, we have a church of about 150 ft. in length by 55 in width across the nave, with transepts,a tower at the intersection, and nearly all the arrangements found at a much later age, and with scarcely any more reminiscence of the early Christian style than is observable at Mittelzell.

The external mode of decoration is very much that of the two churches of San Apollinare at Ravenna, but is carried one step further, inasmuch as in the upper storey of the nave each compartment is divided into two arches, the centre one carried on a corbel; in the tower there are three such little arches in each bay, and in the narthex five. This design afterwards became in Germany and Italy[59]the favourite string-course moulding.

The church of Granson, on the borders of the lake of Neufchatel, though much smaller, is scarcely less interesting. It belongs to the Carlovingian era, and like many churches of that age, has borrowed its pillars and many of its ornaments from earlier monuments. Its most remarkable peculiarity is the vault of the nave, which shows how timidly at that early period the architects undertook to vault even the narrowest spans, the whole nave with its side-aisles being only 30 ft. wide. It is the earliest specimen we possess of a mode of vaulting which subsequently became very common in the South of France, and which, as has been pointed out above, led to most of the forms of vaulting afterwards introduced.

691. Section of Church at Granson. (From Blavignac.)

The church of Notre Dame de Neufchatel, part of which is as old as from 927 to 954, presents also forms of beauty and interest. The same may be said of the tower of the cathedral of Sion, which is of the same age, and of parts also of the cathedral of Geneva.

The church at Payerne is very similar in size and in all its arrangements to that of Romain-Motier; but being two centuries more modern, the transition is complete, and it shows all the peculiarities of a round-arched Gothic style as completely as San Michele at Pavia, or any other church of the same age.

If there are any examples of basilican churches in Germany as old as these Swiss examples, they have not yet been described, nor their age satisfactorily ascertained. The oldest known example, so far as I am aware, is the old Dom at Ratisbon,[60]originally apparently about 45 ft.by 22 in the clear. It was surrounded internally by eleven niches, and vaulted. It also possessed the peculiarly German arrangement of having no entrance at the west end, and has a deep gallery occupying about one-fourth of the church. The lateral entrance is unfortunately gone, so that there is very little ornamental architecture about the place by which its age could be determined; and as no record remains of its foundation, we can only conjecture that it may belong to some time slightly subsequent to the Carlovingian era.[61]

692. Plan of the Church at Gernrode. (From Puttrich.[62])

Boisserée places in this age the original cathedrals of Fulda and Cologne, both which he assumes to have been double-apse basilicas, but apparently without any sufficient data. There is no doubt that the cathedral at the latter place, burnt in 1248, was a double-apse church; but if it was anything like his restoration it could not have been erected earlier than the 11th or 12th century, and must have replaced an older building, which, for anything we know, may have been circular, as probably as rectangular; and such would likewise appear to have been the case at Fulda,[63]though there is as little to reason upon there as at Cologne.

693. View of West End of Church at Gernrode. (From Puttrich.)

There can be little doubt that the church of St. Justinus, built by Archbishop Otgar, 826-847A.D., at Höchst (between Mayence and Frankfort) is of the Carlovingian period, as also parts of the church of St. Castor at Coblenz, and the churches at Michælstadt and Seligenstadt, the two last erected by Eginwald, the biographer of Charlemagne.

The most important building of the tenth century is the crypt of the Abbey of Quedlinburg, erected by Matilda, consort of Henry I., in 936A.D.It consists of three aisles, covered with parallel barrel vaults supported upon alternating piers and columns, and is the first appearance of this favourite form of support in German basilicas. The dimensions of this building are 23 feet 8 inches × 22 feet 7 inches, and 32 feet 2 inches to the crown of vault.

The caps and bases take a distinctive form, leading from the debased Roman to the Romanesque, the further development of which can be seen in the choir of the abbey church at Essen, erected shortly after 947A.D.

Leaving these, we must come down to the end of the 10th or beginning of the 11th century for examples of the class we are now speaking of. Of these, one of the most perfect and interesting is the church at Gernrode, in the Hartz, foundedA.D.960, when probably the eastern part (not the extended choir) was commenced, and the whole building may be assumed to have been erected within a century after that date. From the plan (Woodcut No.692) it will be seen how singularly like it is to the St. Gall example, except that it appears to have been originally about 50 ft., or one-fourth, less in length. The western circular towers, instead of being detached, are here joined to the building. Piers too are introduced internally, alternating with pillars; and altogether the church shows just such an advance on the St. Gall plan as we might expect a century or so to produce. It exemplifies most satisfactorily the original form of these churches.

694. View of West End of Abbey of Corvey.

It possesses what is rare in this country—a bold triforium gallery, and externally that strange frontispiece, forming the connecting gallery of the two towers, which is so distinguishing a characteristic of German churches. A still bolder example of this gallery remains in the façadeof the once famous abbey of Corvey, on the eastern frontier of Westphalia (Woodcut No.694), where we find the feature developed to its fullest extent, so that it must originally have entirely hidden the church placed behind it, as it did afterwards at Strasbourg and in many other examples.

At Gernrode, as at Mittelzell, the roof was originally intended to have been of wood, the crypts under the two apses being alone vaulted. Indeed at that age the German architects hardly felt themselves skilled enough to undertake a stone roof of any great extent. The old Dom at Ratisbon is only 22 ft. in width, and that they could accomplish, but not apparently one like Gernrode, where the span was twice that in extent.

If the church at Gernrode is a satisfactory specimen of a complete German design carried out in its integrity, the cathedral at Trèves is both more interesting as well as instructive from a very different cause. It is one of those aggregated buildings of all ages and styles which let us into the secrets of the art, and contain a whole history within themselves; and as the dates of the successive building eras can be ascertained with very tolerable accuracy, it may be as well to describe it next in the series, to explain how and when the various changes took place.

As is well known, the original cathedral at Trèves was built by the pious Helena, mother of Constantine, and seems, like the contemporary church at Jerusalem, to have consisted of two distinct edifices, one rectangular, the other circular. The original circular building was pulled down in the 13th century, to make way for the present Liebfrauen church erected on its site, and most probably of the same dimensions. Of the other, or square building, enough still remains encased in the walls of the present basilica to enable us to determine its size and plan with very tolerable accuracy. The plan of it in the woodcut (No.696) is taken from Schmidt’s most valuable work on the Antiquities of Trèves. The atrium has been added by myself, because it was an almost universal feature in churches of the date in which this was erected, and because there is every reason to believe that the present church occupied as nearly as possible the exact site of the older one, and is of the same dimensions. The circular church is restored from the Roman examples of the same age (Woodcuts 227, and 422 to 436). From their relative positions it will be seen how indispensable the atrium must have been.

695. Plan of Original Church at Trèves.[64]Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

696. Plan of Mediæval Church at Trèves. (From Schmidt, ‘Baudenkmale von Trier.’) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

This Romanesque church seems to have remained pretty much in its original state till the beginning of the 11th century, when the Archbishop Poppo found it so ruinous from age, that it required to be almost entirely rebuilt. He first encased the pillars of the Romans in masonry, making them into piers. He then took in and roofed over the atrium, and added an apse at the western end, thus converting itinto a German church of the approved model, so that from this time forward the buildings took the form shown in the Woodcut No.692. No very important works seem to have been undertaken from the beginning of the 11th till the middle of the 12th century, when Bishop Hillin is said to have undertaken the repair or rebuilding of the eastern apse: he did not proceed beyond the foundation; but the work was taken up and completed by Bishop John, who held the see from 1190 to 1212. These two apses, therefore, one an example of the beginning of the German round-arched style, the other representing the same near its close, show clearly the progress which had been made in the interval.

697. Western Apse of Church at Trèves. (From Schmidt.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

698. Eastern Apse of Church at Trèves. (From Schmidt.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

The first of these apses (Woodcut No.697) is perhaps somewhat ruder than we might reasonably expect, though this may in part be accounted for by itsremote provincial situation. The round towers too are subordinate to the square ones, in a manner more congenial to French than to German taste. But the principal defect is in the apsidal gallery, which is rude and tasteless as compared with other specimens, which we are apparently justified in considering as contemporary. Before the later or eastern apse was erected the gallery had almost run into the opposite extreme of minute littleness, and the polygonal form and projecting buttresses of pointed architecture were beginning to supersede the simpler outlines of the parent style, of which these two specimens form as it were the Alpha and the Omega. Between them the examples and varieties are so numerous, that there really is anembarras de richessein selecting those most appropriate for illustration.

699. Internal View of the Church of St. Michael, at Hildesheim. (From Möller.)

700. Plan of Church of St. Michael at Hildesheim.

The church of St. Michael at Hildesheim, erected by Bishop Bernward in the first years of the 11th century, is among the earliest and most interesting of those remaining in sufficient purity to enable us to judge correctly of their original appearance. The plan (Woodcut No.700) consists of nave and aisles, an eastern and western transept both projecting beyond the aisles, and flanked by octagonal towerswith staircases in them. The west choir, of one bay and apse, is flanked by two vestries, with a low aisle round the apse, and entered only from it. At the east end there were originally a central and two side apses,[65]but in the 12th century the central apse was replaced by one of equal length to that at the west end. All these apses have long ago disappeared. The entrances are as usual on each side of the nave, and none at the west end. Though the proportions appear short with reference to the breadth, considerable additional effect is given by the screens that shut off both arms of the eastern transept so as not to allow the perspective effect to be broken. Hence the continuous view of the central aisle, being six times as long as it is broad, gives the appearance of far greater length to the church than could be supposed possible from its lineal dimensions. But the great beauty here is the elegance both in proportion and detail of the pier-arches, which separate the nave from the aisles; the proportion of the pillars is excellent, their capitals rich and beautiful, and every third pillar being replaced by a pier gives a variety and apparentstability which is extremely pleasing.

The church at Limburg, near Dürkheim, in the Bavarian Rhenish Palatinate, erected by the Emperor Conrad (A.D.1024-39), is a similar though rather a larger church than that at Hildesheim, and possesses a peculiarity somewhat new in Germany, of a handsome western porch and entrance, with a choir with a square termination, instead of with an apse as was usual. Another fine church, with a plan of the same form, is the Benedictine abbey church at Echternach, dedicated to St. Willibrord (a Northumbrian missionary monk). It was consecrated in 1031. The extreme dimensions are 265 ft. by 72 ft.

The three great typical buildings of this epoch are the Rhenish cathedrals of Mayence, Worms, and Spires. The first was commenced in the 10th century, and still possesses parts belonging to that age. The present edifice at Worms belongs principally to the church dedicated there in 1110. The age of the third and most important of these three cathedrals is still a matter of controversy, and one, I fear, that will not be settled without difficulty; for the church has been so frequently damaged by fire and war, and lately by ill-judged restorations, that it is not easy to ascertain what portions of it are old and what new. Still I cannot help feeling convinced that the plan, and probably a great part at least of the present structure, may belong to the original building of Conrad, commenced in 1030, and which was dedicated by his grandson Henry IV., thirty-one years afterwards.

Except the eastern apse, which is as usual flanked by two round towers, the whole of the exterior of Mayence has been so completelyrebuilt, that little can now be said about it. The plan presents nothing remarkable, except that it is evident, from its solidity and arrangement, that it was intended from the commencement to be a vaulted building; while of its details only one doorway remains which can with certainty be said to belong to the original foundation.[66]It is remarkable principally for the classicality of its details, and if its age is correctly ascertained (the end of the 10th century), it would go far to confirm the date usually assigned to the portal at Lorsch, namely, the late Carlovingian period.

At Worms, the only part now remaining of the edifice dedicated in 1110 is the eastern end. The western apse cannot be older than the year 1200, the intermediate parts having been erected between those dates. The original plan is probably nearly unchanged, and is a fine specimen of its class. The eastern apse is a curious compromise between the two modes of finishing that were in use at that period, being square externally, and circular in the interior. Internally the vaulting throughout is simple and judicious, without any straining after effects like those which puzzled the Norman architects in the same age (seeante, p.114), and the alternate clustered piers and large size of the windows give to the whole a variety and lightness not usual in churches of that date. Nothing can well be simpler or nobler than the design externally. The four circular towers and the two domes break the sky-line pleasingly, and the ornamentation throughout is good and appropriate. Among the best of its details are the pilaster-like buttresses which ornament its flanks; one of these is shown on a larger scale (Woodcut No.702). They display the true feeling of Romanesque art: one moulding on each side running round the windows, while the central group forms a pilaster running up to the cornice.

701. Plan of Cathedral of Worms. (From Geier and Görz.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

702. One Bay of Cathedral at Worms. (From Geier and Görz.)

If the design has a defect, it is the want of dignity in the lateralentrances, and from these moreover being placed unsymmetrically on the flanks. The fact of these being lateral arose from the double-apse arrangement; but there seems no reason why they should not have been central, and been covered by a porch to give them dignity. Whether right or wrong, this position of the entrances is typical of German church architecture, and is found in all ages.

703. Side Elevation of Worms Cathedral. (From Rosengarten.)

Although the cathedral of Spires cannot boast of the elegance and finish of that of Worms, it is perhaps, taken as a whole, the finestspecimen in Europe of a bold and simple building conceived, if the expression may be used, in a truly Doric spirit. Its general dimensions are 435 ft. in length by 125 in width; and taken with its adjuncts, it covers about 57,000 square feet, so that though of sufficient dimensions, it is by no means one of the largest cathedrals of its class. It is built so solidly, that the supporting masses occupy nearly a fifth of the area, and like the other great building of Conrad’s, the church of Limburg, this possesses, what is so rare in Germany, a narthex or porch,[67]and its principal entrance faces the altar. Its great merit is the daring boldness and simplicity of its nave, which is 45 ft. wide between the piers, and 105 ft. high to the centre of the vault, dimensions never attained in England, though they are equalled or surpassed in some of the French cathedrals. There is a simple grandeur about the parts of this building which gives a value to the dimensions unknown in later times, and it may be questioned if there is any other Mediæval church which impresses the spectator more by its appearance of size than this.

704. Plan of the Cathedral at Spires. (From Geier and Görz.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

Externally, too, the body of the church has no ornament but its small window openings, and the gallery that runs round under all its roofs. But the bold square towers (certainly of the 12th century) and the central dome group pleasingly together, and, rising so far above the low roofs of the half-depopulated town at its feet, impress the spectator with awe and admiration at the boldness of the design and the grandeur with which it has been carried out. Taken altogether, this noble building proves that the German architects at that time had actually produced a great and original style, and that had they persevered they must have succeeded inperfecting it, but they abandoned their task before it was half completed.

The western apse of the cathedral at Mayence is the most modern part of these three great cathedrals, and perhaps the only example in Germany where a triapsal arrangement has been attempted with polygonal instead of circular forms. In this instance, as shown in Woodcut No.705, the three apses, each forming three sides of an octagon, are combined together so as to form a singularly spacious and elegant choir, both externally and internally as beautiful as anything of its kind in Germany. Its style is so nearly identical with that of the eastern apse of the cathedral at Trèves (Woodcut No.698), that there can be no doubt but that, like it, it belongs to the beginning of the 13th century. At this time more variety and angularity were coming into use, suggested no doubt by the greater convenience which flat surfaces presented for inserting larger windows than could conveniently be used with the older curved outlines; for now that painted glass had come into general use, large openings had become indispensable for its display. Notwithstanding this advantage, and the great beauty of the other forms often adopted, none of them compensate for the external effect of the circular lines of the older buildings.

705. Western Apse of Cathedral at Mayence.

Proceeding northwards, we find in the churches of Westphalia a fine series of examples which are comparatively but little known. Among the more important of these we may mention Münster, with its fine and impressive nave, Soest, Paderborn, Lippstadt, Osnabrück, Hildesheim, Hameln, Hersfeld, Brunswick, Quedlinburg, Goslar, Gelnhausen, etc. They are very numerous, and many of them are sufficiently large for architectural effect; but in the earlier Romanesque work they are somewhat heavy, and in the age of the pointed Gothic style there is a tendency to attenuation which is the reverse of pleasing. In some of the early churches there is considerable refinement, as may be seen in the narthex porch of the cathedral of Soest (Woodcut No.706); and in the Schloss Kirche at Quedlinburg there is a profusion of sculpture in the capitals, some of which show considerable Byzantine influence.

A good deal of the heaviness of the northern churches internally may no doubt be traced to the circumstance that the earlier examples depended almost wholly on colour for their ornament, and the paintinghaving disappeared, the plain stone or plaster surfaces remain—their flatness being made only the more prominent by the whitewash that now covers them. Notwithstanding these defects, so many of these churches remain in a state so nearly unaltered at the present day, that much information might be gleaned from a study of their peculiarities. The three examples, for instance, given in Woodcut No.706, illustrate very completely the progress of German spire-growth. The first, that of Minden, is a very early example of the façade screen so popular throughout Germany in the Middle Ages. The central example, from the cathedral at Paderborn, belonging to the middle of the 11th century, shows one of the earliest attempts at a spire-like roof to a tower, four gables being used instead of the two which were generally employed. The third illustration, from Soest, aboutA.D.1200, shows the transition complete. The four gables are still there, but do not extend to the angles, nor do they form the principal roof. The corners are cut off, so as to suggest an octagon, and a second roof has grown up to the form of a spire, entirely eclipsing that suggested by the gables. In this instance also the tower has become a specimen of a complete design, and, though the narthex or porch has somewhat the appearance of being stuck on, the upper part of the tower is of considerable elegance.

Church at Minden. Cathedral at Paderborn. Church at Soest.706. From ‘Mitteralterliche Kunst in Westphalen,’ von W. Lübke.

The same process of spire-growth can be traced to some extent bothin England and in France, but on the whole it is by no means clear that the spire, properly so called, is not an importation from the banks of the Rhine. Height in the roof appears always to have been considered a beauty by German architects, and it seems to have been applied to towers earlier in Germany than in other countries.

Far more important than these, and surpassing them infinitely in beauty, is the group of churches which adorns the city of Cologne, the virtual capital, or at least the principal city, of Germany at the time of their erection. The old cathedral has perished and made way for the celebrated structure that now occupies its place. As just remarked, if it was like the restoration proposed by Boisserée, it resembled Worms, and must have belonged to the 12th century; but it does not seem that there are sufficient data for determining this question.

707. Sta. Maria in Capitolio, Cologne. (From Boisserée’s ‘Nieder Rhein.’) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

Of the remaining churches three may be selected as types of the German round-arched style as it existed on the eve of the introduction of the French pointed style into Germany.

708. Apse of the Apostles’ Church at Cologne. (From Boisserée.)

Of these, Sta. Maria in Capitolio (Woodcut No.707) is apparently the oldest. It was originally erected by Plectrudis, wife of Pepin Heristall, in the year 700, but of that church nothing now remains. The nave was rebuilt apparently in the 11th century, and the choir, with its three noble apses, in the 12th, and perhaps even as late as the 13th century. In plan these apses are more spacious than those of the Apostles’ Church or of that of St. Martin (Woodcuts708and709), this church alone having a broad aisle running round each, a feature which gives great breadth and variety to the perspective, but the apseof the Church of the Apostles (erectedA.D.1035) is far more beautiful externally. This latter building is perhaps, taken altogether, the most pleasing example of its class, externally at least. The whole design of the east end is quite complete, as we now see it, and is perfectly well balanced in all its parts. St. Martin’s, on the other hand (Woodcut No.709), has more of the aspiring tendencies of the pointed style, and, though very elegant, itsapsidal gallery is too small, and the whole design somewhat wire-drawn, while there is a solidity and repose about the design of the Apostles’ Church, and a perfect harmony among the parts, which we miss in the more modern example. These three churches, taken together, suffice probably to illustrate sufficiently the nature and capabilities of the style which we are describing. The triapsal arrangement possesses in a remarkable degree the architectural propriety of terminating nobly the interior to which it is applied. As the worshipper advances up the nave, the three apses open gradually upon him, and form a noble and appropriate climax without the effectbeing destroyed by something less magnificent beyond. But their most pleasing effect is external, where the three simple circular lines combine gracefully together, and form an elegant basement for any central dome or tower. Compared with the confused buttresses and pinnacles of the apses of the French pointed churches, it must certainly be admitted that the German designs are far nobler, as possessing more architectural propriety and more of the elements of true and simple beauty. The churches which possess this feature are small, it is true, and therefore it is hardly fair to compare them with such imposing edifices as the great and overpoweringly magnificent cathedral of the same town; but among buildings on their own scale they are as yet unrivalled. As these churches now stand, their effect is to some extent marred by the circumstance of their naves neither being sufficient in extent nor so ornamental as to support effectually the varied outline and rich decoration of the apse. Generally these are of a different age and of a less ornate style, so that the complete effect of a well-balanced composition is wanting; but this does not suffice to destroy the great beauties these churches undoubtedly possess.

709. Apse of St. Martin’s Church at Cologne. (From Boisserée.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

In so far as beauty of design in this style is concerned, perhaps the church at Bonn ought to be quoted next after those of Cologne. It is only the east end, however, that belongs properly to their style of architecture, the nave and central tower were not completed till the13th century; but the eastern apse and its two flanking towers are in themselves as noble as the triapsal arrangement of the Apostles’ Church, but would require even a bolder nave and loftier west end to balance them than the more modest arrangement of that building. As it is, the effect of the church as a whole is destroyed by the comparative meanness of these parts.

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