Chapter 16

The evolution of the characteristic features of pre-Conquest architecture was slow, and was doubtless greatly hindered by the invasions of the Northmen from the end of the 8th century onward, but germs of the fully developed style are to be found in the earliest buildings. The western tower, usually of tall and slender proportion, was developed from the western porch found at St Pancras, Canterbury, and Monkwearmouth; sometimes, as in the latter church, actually raised over the older porch. The lateral chapels of St Pancras, which existed also in the Saxon cathedral of Canterbury, were developed into a transept, culminating in the cruciform plan with central tower. The characteristic “long-and-short” work, which consists of tall upright stones alternating with stones bedded flat bonding into the rubble work of the wall, has its prototype in the western arch of the porch of Monkwearmouth, and in the jambs of the chancel arch at Escomb. Sometimes the flat stones are cut back on the face, so that the plaster which covered the rubble extended up to the line of the upright stones, thus giving the quoin the appearance of a narrow pilaster. The repetition of these pilasters on the face of the walling constitutes rib-work, and these ribs are frequently connected by semicircular or so-called “triangular” arches, forming a land of rude arcading (Earls Barton, Barton-on-Humber.) Windows in the earliest Saxon work are generally wide in proportion, and splayed on the inside only; in the later work they commonly have splays both on the inside and outside. Doorways have square jambs, without splay or rebate; sometimes the jambs of doorways and windows are inclined, as in early buildings in Ireland. Imposts to doorways, tower arches or chancel arches are often square projecting blocks, sometimes chamfered on the lower edge. The mid-wall shaft is a characteristic feature in the belfry openings of Saxon towers; it supports an impost or through-stone, of the full thickness of the wall, which receives the semicircular arches over the openings. The method is analogous to that commonly found in northern Italy and the Rhineland. Sometimes the mid-wall shaft is a baluster, turned in a lathe. In some of the later belfry openings, a capital intervenes between the mid-wall shaft and the impost. The dating of buildings of this style is at present a matter of considerable difficulty, but certain points, such as the development of the cruciform plan, are useful for comparison. A fully developed cross church was built at Romsey in 969, having also a single axial western tower, and this seems to have been the normal type of a large church in the later years of the style. Cruciform plans, not yet fully developed, are found at Deerhurst, Breamore and St Mary in the castle at Dover, and fully developed at Norton (Durham) and Stow (Lincolnshire). The most advanced detail which occurs in pre-Conquest buildings is the recessing of arches in orders. But for the Conquest, English architecture might have developed somewhat on the lines of contemporary work in Germany. It must be remembered, however, that, although the Norman Conquest marks the beginning of a new epoch in English architecture, the Norman manner had already been introduced into England under Edward the Confessor, as is proved by the considerable remains of that king’s work at Westminster Abbey.

The succeeding periods of English architecture have been divided into so-called “styles” or “periods,” though it should be recognized that all such hard and fast divisions are purely artificial, and that, apart from the objection that they exaggerate the importance of mere details, they tend to obscure the fact that the history of Gothic architecture is a history of continuous development. The following classifications, those of Thomas Rickman and Edmund Sharpe, are in most general use for the present by such students as are not content with a nomenclature based on simple chronology:—

Norman Conquest to c. 1150.—At the time of the Conquest of England, the Norman school was already one of the most advanced Romanesque schools of western Europe. Its marked individuality and logical character are clearly expressed in the abbey churches of Jumièges and St Étienne and Sainte-Trinité at Caen, and it quickly supplanted the less advanced Romanesquemanner of the conquered English. As soon as the conqueror had made himself master in his new kingdom, cathedral and abbey churches were rebuilt on a scale hitherto unknown either in Normandy or England. As the effect of the Norman Conquest was to incorporate the church in England more closely with western Christendom, so its effect on architecture was to bring it into line with the best continental achievement of its time. The immense energy of the Norman bishops and abbots gave such a stimulus to architecture that by the close of the 11th century, England, rather than Normandy, had become the realfoyerof the Norman school.

The plans of the larger churches show greater development in the length of choir, transept and nave than was usual in Normandy. Many follow the type of choir plan generally represented in the contemporary churches of Normandy which have survived—a central apse, flanked by an apse terminating each aisle, but the two bays usual in the Norman churches frequently became four in England. The Confessor’s church of Westminster seems to have had an ambulatory with radiating chapels, a plan which, although rare in the surviving churches of Normandy, was adopted in several of the more important English churches (St Augustine’s, Canterbury; Winchester; Worcester; Gloucester; Bury St Edmunds; Norwich; Tewkesbury). Some of these have great vaulted crypts extending under the choir and its aisles. The transept, generally of considerable length, has one or more apsidal chapels on the east side of each arm, or an eastern aisle, or even (as at Winchester and Ely) both eastern and western aisles. The lantern-tower over the crossing was a characteristic feature in England, as in Normandy. Frequently the nave was of great length, extending to twelve bays at Winchester, thirteen at Ely, and fourteen at Norwich. Some churches, as Ely, Bury St Edmunds, and later Peterborough (Plate VIII., fig. 81), show a western transept, with corresponding development of the west front. Two western towers are most usual, but Ely (Plate II., fig. 67), and originally Winchester, had the single western tower, a survival from pre-Conquest times, which is found also in numberless parish churches. In their general design, the Norman churches show great skill in composition, and in the logical expression of structure, and sure grasp of the problems to be solved. The subordination of arches (arches built in rings, or orders, recessed one within the other) was carried further than in other Romanesque schools, and with this went the subordination of the pier, planned with a shaft to receive each order of the semicircular arch. Sometimes the shafted piers of the great arcades alternate with cylindrical (or later with octagonal) pillars; sometimes, as at Gloucester and Tewkesbury, all the pillars are cylindrical. The triforium usually has a single wide semicircular arched opening, enclosing two or more minor semicircular arches springing from detached shafts. Usually the aisle wall is carried up to form a complete triforium storey, unvaulted, and lighted by windows in the outer wall. The clerestory has a single window in each bay, with a wall passage between the window and an internal arcade, usually of three semicircular arches on shafts, the central arch being wider than the side arches. Most frequently naves and transepts were unvaulted, and finished with wood ceilings, while the aisles were covered with groined vaults of rubble, on transverse arches. The general design of the greater churches indicates, however, that the Norman builders were aiming at a completely vaulted structure. The half-barrel vault over the triforium of Gloucester, and the transverse arches over the triforium of Chichester, seem to be constructed to afford the necessary abutment to vaults over the choir, such indeed as still exist over some choirs in Normandy built before the end of the 11th century. The problem was only successfully solved by the introduction of the diagonal rib, which completed the structural membering of the vault. Durham, begun in 1093 (fig. 42), is the earliest example in England of this important innovation, and it precedes by some quarter of a century the earliest ribbed vaults of the Île-de-France. The abutting arches under the roof of its triforium are actually rudimentary flying-buttresses, and we have here all the essential elements of Gothic architecture, except the pointed arch, which is only systematically used in English vaulted construction from about the middle of the 12th century. The decorative forms of the earlier buildings of the Norman school are severely simple. Arches, which at first were usually unmoulded, soon received effective mouldings of rolls and hollows, continuing a tradition of the latest pre-Conquest architecture. Two types of capitals are found in the earlier buildings after the Conquest; the volute capital, descended from the Corinthian, which was the normal type in Normandy; and the cubic or cushion capital, formed by the penetration of a segment of a sphere, or segments of cones, with a cube, a type which, appearing earlier in England than in Normandy, was doubtless derived from pre-Conquest models, and in the 12th century developed into the scalloped capital. The decoration of wall-surfaces by arcades, frequently of intersecting semicircular arches, is characteristic of the Norman school. Windows are splayed in the interior, and in the more important buildings are enriched with shafts and moulded arches. Ornamentation is frequently concentrated on the doorways, which are often of many orders, with a shaft under each order. Based chiefly on geometric forms, such as the chevron or zigzag, star, fret and cable, the decoration becomes richer and more refined as the 12th century advances, though in sculpture the Norman was less advanced than some other Romanesque schools.From Rickman’sStyles of Architecture, by permission of Parker & Co.Fig.42.—Plan of Durham Cathedral.The foregoing generalization applies more particularly to the greater churches, but numberless parish churches present similar characteristics. Chancels are sometimes apsidal, but by far the most prevalent type of plan is the aisleless oblong nave and square-ended chancel, with or without a western tower. Other types of aisleless plans are the cruciform church with central tower, or simply nave and chancel with central tower. Even where subsequent alterations and rebuildings have destroyed almost everything, the influence of these plans on the later work is the key to a right understanding of the history of the greater number of English medieval churches.

The foregoing generalization applies more particularly to the greater churches, but numberless parish churches present similar characteristics. Chancels are sometimes apsidal, but by far the most prevalent type of plan is the aisleless oblong nave and square-ended chancel, with or without a western tower. Other types of aisleless plans are the cruciform church with central tower, or simply nave and chancel with central tower. Even where subsequent alterations and rebuildings have destroyed almost everything, the influence of these plans on the later work is the key to a right understanding of the history of the greater number of English medieval churches.

12th Century(second half).—The second half of the 12th century is the period of transitionpar excellence—of transition from Romanesque to Gothic. The school of the Île-de-France, which up toc.1120 was one of the most backward of the Romanesque schools, had made enormous progress when the ambulatory of Suger’s church of Saint-Denis was built (1140-1144), and thenceforth it continued to lead the way. There is no doubt that, from the middle of the 12th century, English architecture was continuously influenced by the Île-de-France, for the most part through Normandy, but it must be considered to be a development on parallel lines, with strongly marked characteristics of its own, and not merely as an importation of forms already developed elsewhere. At the same time, the influence of the Cistercian revival was considerable, not so much in the introduction of foreign forms as in the direction of simplicity and severity, which acted as a valuable check to the prevalent tendency to exaggerate the importance of surface decoration.

The substitution of the square east-end for the apse in the plans of the greater churches, already effected at Romsey, was furthered by the simple plans of the Cistercian churches. The altar spaces provided by the radiating chapels of the French chevet were in England obtained by returning the aisles across the square east-end of the choir, or by an eastern transept. The latter occurs first here in“the glorious choir of Conrad” of the beginning of the 12th century at Canterbury which affords also the first example of the eastward extension of the choir which became so characteristic a feature of English planning. The reconstruction of Conrad’s choir after the fire of 1174 led to a further extension eastward with the eastern chapel which was adopted in many of the greater churches, either in the form of a lower building, sometimes of three spans eastward of the east gable or of an extension of the choir itself to its full height. The work of William of Sens at Canterbury (1175-1178) was naturally more French in character than other contemporary works in England, but the work of his successor, William the Englishman (1179-1184) shows the beginnings of what became the characteristically English manner of the 13th century.The second half of the 12th century was a period of rapid development of architectural forms in the direction of increased elegance and refinement. The pointed arch employed at first for the arches of construction entirely superseded the semicircular arch in doorways, windows and arcades by the end of the century and its adoption finally solved the problem of vaulted construction. The abutting arches under the triforium roofs of the earlier churches were developed into flying buttresses above the roofs springing from buttresses of increased projection and weighted by pinnacles. Mouldings became more graceful and subtle in their profiles. Capitals reverted to the volute type, transformed and refined. The massive Romanesque pier was gradually developed into the lighter Gothic pier in which detached shafts were extensively adopted. The use of Purbeck marble for these shafts must be considered in relation to the painted decoration of the wall surfaces which although now almost entirely lost was an important factor in the internal effect.

The second half of the 12th century was a period of rapid development of architectural forms in the direction of increased elegance and refinement. The pointed arch employed at first for the arches of construction entirely superseded the semicircular arch in doorways, windows and arcades by the end of the century and its adoption finally solved the problem of vaulted construction. The abutting arches under the triforium roofs of the earlier churches were developed into flying buttresses above the roofs springing from buttresses of increased projection and weighted by pinnacles. Mouldings became more graceful and subtle in their profiles. Capitals reverted to the volute type, transformed and refined. The massive Romanesque pier was gradually developed into the lighter Gothic pier in which detached shafts were extensively adopted. The use of Purbeck marble for these shafts must be considered in relation to the painted decoration of the wall surfaces which although now almost entirely lost was an important factor in the internal effect.

13th Century(first half).—The last decade of the 12th century marks the achievement of a fully developed Gothic style, with strongly marked national individuality. During the 13th century, English Gothic follows the same general course of evolution as that of northern France, but the parallelism is less close than in the preceding century.

St Hugh’s choir at Lincoln (begun 1192) had indeed an apse, with ambulatory and radiating chapels though its plan does not appear to have been controlled by the vaulting as in the French chevets and what there is of French influence seems to have come rather through Canterbury than by a more direct route. This choir has the eastern transept which characterizes several of the greater churches of the first half of the 13th century—Salisbury (fig. 43), Beverley, Worcester, Rochester, Southwell. The square eastern termination, the less ambitious height, and the comparatively simple buttress-system combine to give the English Gothic cathedral an air of greater repose than is found in the magnificent triumphs of French Gothic art. In its structural system, too, English Gothic retained something of the Romanesque treatment of wall surface, the suppression of the wall and the concentration of the masonry in the pier was never carried so far as in the complete Gothic of France. The general tendency during the 13th century, as in the 12th, was in the direction of increased lightness and elegance. The employment of detached shafts and the extensive use of marble (generally Purbeck) for these shafts is a distinguishing feature of the first half of the century. The vaulting system is fully developed, the most usual form is the simple quadripartite but the tendency to introduce additional ribs (tiercerons) and ridge ribs already makes its appearance in the nave of Lincoln and the presbytery of Ely (Plate VIII., fig. 82) to be yet further developed in the second half of the century. Capitals are either simply moulded an elaboration of the plain bell capitals of the latter part of the 12th century, or finely sculptured, with conventional or stiff leaved, foliage of the crocket type. The use of the circular abacus begun in the preceding century entirely supersedes the square abacus which was retained in France. Mouldings are profiled with great refinement, the alternation of rounds and hollows producing effective contrasts of light and shade, and the far more complicated profiles of arch mouldings provide another feature which distinguishes English work of this period from French. Windows of single pointed lights the so called “lancet,” though frequently by no means sharply pointed are the prevalent type, grouped in pairs triplets &c. and arranged in tiers in the large gables or sometimes with only a single group of tall lights, like the “five sisters” of the north transept of York. Few works are more admirably designed than some of the towers of this period. Probably the greatest excellence ever attained in English art of the 13th century was reached in the great Yorkshire abbeys, for purity of general design excellence of construction, and beauty of detail, they are unsurpassed by the work of any other period.

13th Century(second half).—The grouping together of “lancet” windows, the piercing of the wall above them with foiled circles, and the combination of the whole under an enclosing arch, soon led to the introduction of tracery, for which the design of earlier triforium arcades had also afforded a suggestion.

Bar-tracery appears just before the middle of the 13th century, and the great tracery window filling the whole width of a bay, or the entire gable end, soon becomes a most characteristic feature. The earlier tracery windows show only simple geometrical forms, foiled arches to the heads of the lights and foiled circles above, of which the abbey church and the chapter houses of Westminster and Salisbury afford most beautiful examples. In some particulars, such as its chevet plan and its comparatively great height, Westminster approaches more nearly to the French type than other English churches of the 13th century, but its details are characteristically English and of great beauty. In the last quarter of the century, pointed trefoils or quatrefoils are largely used in tracery, and the foliations frequently form the lines of the tracery, without enclosing circles. Contemporary with this change is the gradual absorption of the triforium into the clerestory, of which Southwell and Pershore are precocious examples. Contemporary also was the adoption of an excessively naturalistic type of foliage. The art of masonry and stone cutting was rapidly developed. The detached shaft, always structurally weak, was abandoned for the pier with engaged shafts separated by mouldings. The mouldings of arches become less deeply undercut, and the greater use of the fillet tends to give a more liney effect. The whole practice of art was growing more scholarly, perhaps but at the same time it was more conscious, and the cleverness of the mason was almost as often suggested as the noble character of his work.

14th Century(first half).—The juxtaposition of the foliations without enclosing circles in tracery windows produced curves of contraflexure, which led insensibly to the complete substitution of flowing lines for geometrical forms in tracery.

Flowing tracery makes its appearance in England about 1310, and lasts some fifty years. Up to the end of the 13th century, window tracery had developed in France and England on parallel lines though the English work was always slightly behind France in point of date. All this is changed with the adoption of flowing tracery in England its development was purely national, and owed nothing to France. Indeed, the French flamboyant only makes its appearance at the time when flowing tracery was being abandoned in England. Not only window traceries, but mouldings, carvings and other details are changed in character. The ogee form is used in arches in wall arcades of great beauty and elaboration, as in the Lady chapel at Ely, and in the canopies of tombs, such as the magnificent Percy tomb at Beverley. Niches and arcades are richly ornamented, and small decorative buttresses are used in the jambs of doorways, windows and niches. The moulded capital is still used, along with the capital with a continuous convex band of wavy foliage. Many of the most beautiful English towers and spires date from this period, the work of which is perhaps seen at its best in the parish churches of south Lincolnshire.

From Middle of 14th Century.—The over-elaboration of flowing tracery inevitably led to a reaction. The beauty of the lines of the tracery had controlled everything, and the resulting forms of the openings, which presented serious difficulties for the glass painter, had been a secondary consideration. Hence an endeavour to return to a simpler and more dignified, if more mechanical, style of building. The splendid exuberance of the earlier 14th century style gave way to the introduction of vigorous, straight, vertical and horizontal lines.

The beginnings of the new manner are to be seen in the south transept of Gloucester before 1337. After the great interruption of building works caused by the Black Death of 1349 and its recurrence in following years, the so-called “Perpendicular” style became general all over the country. The preference for straight in place of flowing lines became more and more developed. Doorways and arches were enclosed within well-defined square outlines; walls were decorated by panelling in rectangular divisions; vertical lines were emphasized by the addition of pinnacles, and buttresses were used as mere decorations, while horizontal lines were multiplied in string-courses, parapets and window transoms. Capitals were frequently omitted, and the mouldings of arches were continued down the piers. The use of the depressed “four-centred” arch became common. Vaulting, which had already been enriched by the multiplication of ribs, was further complicated by cross-ribs (liernes), subdividing the simple spaces naturally produced by the intersection of necessary ribs into panels; these, again, were filled with tracery. The fan-vault was developed by giving to all the ribs the same curvature; the outline of the fan is bounded by a horizontal circular rib, and its effect is that of a solid of revolution upon whose surface panels are sunk. The cloister of Gloucester presents the earliest and perhaps the most beautiful example. Finally, the builders displayed their mechanical skill by introducing pendants, as in Henry VII.’s chapel at Westminster. This latest period of English Gothic was a purely national development of which it has been too much the fashion to speak disparagingly; for it is futile to call such works as the nave of Winchester or the choir and Lady-chapel of Gloucester “debased.” Perhaps the worst that can be said of this period is that there was too great a love of display, and too much mechanical repetition, but it is none the less true that it is to the 15th century that a very large number of English parish churches owe their fine effect. East Anglia and Somersetshire possess some of the choicest examples, and few things can be more beautiful than the central towers of Gloucester and Canterbury, and the towers of the Somersetshire churches. The open timber roofs, as, for instance, those of the East Anglian churches, are superb, while many of the churches of this period are still full of interesting furniture and decoration. Finally, a word must be said of the wealth of interesting examples of domestic architecture, which yet count among the ornaments of the country.After the middle of the 16th century the practice of Gothic architecture virtually died out, though traces of its influence, especially in rural districts, were hardly lost until the end of the 17th century. Good, sound, solid and simple forms, well constructed by men who respected themselves and their work, and did not build only for the passing hour, were still popular and general, so that the vernacular architecture to a late period was often good and never absolutely uninteresting.Scotland.—A few words will suffice for Scottish and Irish architecture, since the development in these countries followed much the same course of change as in England.The earliest ecclesiastical structures which still survive in Scotland follow the same general type as those of Ireland. The monastic foundations of Queen Margaret and her sons introduced into Scotland the Norman manner then universal in England. The best examples, such as the nave of Dunfermline, which is an obvious inspiration from Durham, Kelso of the later 12th century, and the parish churches of Dalmeny and Leuchars, present the same characteristics as are found in English churches of somewhat earlier dates than the buildings in question, and some Romanesque forms survive to a later period than in England. In the 13th century, too, the style of the Scottish churches corresponds very closely with that of England, though the details are generally simpler, and the structures are smaller. It is naturally allied most closely with the north of England, where Cistercian influence in the direction of simplicity and severity had been exercised with the best results. The transept of Dryburgh, the choir and crypt of Glasgow cathedral, the nave of Dunblane, the choir of Brechin, and later Elgin cathedral, exhibit the style at its purest and best. The disturbed condition of the country during the 14th century was unfavourable to architecture, and when building revived at the beginning of the 15th century its style became more national. During the first half of the 15th century, it shows a certain borrowing from English architecture of the flowing-tracery period. Later, many features are borrowed both from England and France, and architecture develops in picturesque and interesting fashion. Melrose is one of the most characteristic, as it certainly is one of the most charming of Scottish buildings; its earlier parts bear a close resemblance to the earlier 14th-century work at York, while its later parts show more similarity to English “Perpendicular” than is common in Scotland. One of the most characteristic features of Scottish architecture in the 15th century is the pointed barrel vault, which directly supports the stone flagged roof. French influence is seen in the employment of the polygonal apse for the termination of choirs, and in some approaches to Flamboyant tracery. The details of the later Gothic churches have but slight connexion either with France or England, and show a curious revival of earlier motives. The semicircular arch is in frequent use, and the “nail-head” and “dog-tooth” ornament, as well as the use of detached shafts, are revived. One of the most remarkable buildings of the 15th century in Scotland is the collegiate church of Roslin, which has a pointed barrel vault over its choir, with transverse barrel vaults over the aisles, and is distinguished by the extreme richness of its decoration.The domestic remains in Scotland are full of picturesque beauty and magnificence. They are a distinctly national class of buildings of great solidity, and much was sacrificed by their builders to the genius of the picturesque. They can only be classed with the latest Gothic buildings of other countries, but the mode of design shown in them lasted much later than the late Gothic style did in England. The vast height to which their walls were carried, the picturesque use made of circular towers, the freedom with which buildings were planned at various angles of contact to each other, and the general simplicity of the ordinary wall, are their most distinct characteristics.Ireland.—The chief interest of the medieval architecture of Ireland belongs to the buildings which were erected before the English conquest of the 12th century. The early monastic settlements seem to have resembled the primitive Celtic fortresses, and consisted of a series of huts or cells, surrounded by an enclosing wall. The so-called “bee-hive” cell, which goes back to pre-Christian times, was built of rough stone rubble without mortar, and roofed in the same manner by corbelling over the courses of masonry. Some of these were certainly dwellings, but others were oratories. The largest of those in Skellig Michael is four-sided, and from this type the stone-roofed church of oblong plan was developed. The later type, with oblong nave and small square-ended chancel, retained much of the character of these primitive structures, and their barrel vaults were sometimes independent of the stone roof-covering, a system which lasted into the 12th and 13th centuries. A certain megalithic character, and the inclined jambs of doorway openings, are marked features of these early churches. The round towers so frequently associated with them are believed to be not earlier than the 9th century. Before the introduction of Norman forms, Ireland possessed a Romanesque style of her own, characterized by the survival of horizontal forms and their incorporation into the round-arched style, the retention of the inclined jambs of doorways, rich surface decoration, and the use of certain ornamental motives of earlier Celtic origin. King Cormac’s chapel at Cashel is one of the best examples of the imported Norman manner of the 12th century, and here we find much of the influence of the earlier native style. The English conquest may be said to have been the introduction to Ireland of Gothic art, and it was the local variety of western England and south Wales which the conquerors introduced. Among the buildings erected by the English in Ireland, Kilkenny cathedral and the two 13th-century cathedrals of Dublin—Christ Church and St Patrick’s—are the most remarkable, but there are many others. Their style is most plainly that of the English conqueror, with no concession to, or consideration of, earlier Irish forms of art. The result of the conquest was that the native style of construction was never applied to large buildings, though it did not at once disappear, as is witnessed by the church St Doulough near Malahide, which appears to be a 14th-century building. The characteristic features of later medieval Irish buildings, such as the stepped battlements, the retention of flowing lines in the tracery, and the peculiar treatment of crockets, are matters of no great importance in the history of architecture, and indeed it is hardly to be expected that a country with so stormy a history could have given rise to any systematic developments. Of the monastic remains those of the friaries are the most numerous, Ireland having many more friars’ churches to show than England, but such peculiarities as they possess belong rather to the order than to any local influences.(J. Bn.)Romanesque and Gothic Architecture in GermanyFig.44.—Plan of Cathefral at Aix-la-Chapelle.With the exception of the church built at Trèves (Trier) by the empress Helena, of which small portions can still be traced in the cathedral, there are no remains of earlier date than the tomb-house built by Charlemagne at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), which, though much restored in the 19th century, is still in good preservation. It consists (fig. 44) of an octagonal domed hall surrounded by aisles in two storeys, both vaulted; externally the structure is a polygon of sixteen sides, about 105 ft. in diameter, and it was preceded by a porch flanked by turrets. It is thought to have been copied from S. Vitale at Ravenna, but there are many essential differences. The same design was repeated at Ottmarsheim and Essen, and a simpler version exists at Nijmwegen in the Netherlands, also built by Charlemagne. Although no remains exist of the monastery of St Gall in Switzerland (seeAbbey), built in the beginning of the 9th century, a valuable manuscript plan was found in the 17th century, in its library, which would seem to have been a design for a completemonastery. It contains features which are peculiar to the early German churches and are rarely found elsewhere, and is therefore of considerable interest, suggesting that some of the accessories of a monastery, supposed to have been the result of subsequent development, were all clearly set forth at this early period. The plan shows an eastern apse with a crypt, and a choir in front; a western apse, nave and aisles, with a series of altars down the latter; and on the west side, but detached from the apse, two circular towers with staircases in them. Unfortunately there are no churches remaining of the same date from which we might judge how far these arrangements were followed; but there are three early churches in the island of Reichenau on the Lake of Constance, in one of which, Mittelzell, is a western apse with staircases (here built up into a central tower), nave, and aisles with altars at the side between every window. The eastern portion has been rebuilt. At Oberzell, at the south end of the island, is a vaulted crypt, which dates from the end of the 10th century. In the third and much smaller church, Unterzell, there was no crypt, but three eastern apses and a western apse, which was destroyed when the present nave was built. At Gernrode in the Harz is a church with western and eastern apses with vaulted crypts underneath (one of which dates from 960 when the church was founded), and circular towers with staircases in them on either side of the western apse. The church was completed about a century later. In the arcade between the nave and aisles piers alternate with the columns. Alternating piers are found also in Quedlinburg (the crypt of which dates from 936 and the church above about 1030) and many other early churches. Western apses exist at Drubeck, Ilbenstadt, Trèves, Huyseberg, St Michael and St Godehard at Hildesheim, Mainz, the Obermunster at Regensburg, Laach, Worms, and at a later date at Naumbergand Bamberg, showing that it was a feature generally accepted in early and late periods. It has, however, one great defect, that of depriving the west end of the church of those magnificent porches which are the glory of the churches of France, the cathedral of Spires (Speyer), the church at Limburg near Durkheim, the cathedrals of Erfurt and Regensburg, being the few examples where a dignified entrance is given; and further, that on entering the church from the side, one is distracted by the rivalry of the two apses, and it is only when turning the back on one or the other that one is able to judge of the monumental effect of the interior.Fig.45.—Plan of Cathedralat Mainz.Fig.46.—Plan of Cathedralat Worms.Fig.47.—Plan of Cathedral in Spires.The greater number of the churches above mentioned were covered over with open timber roofs or flat ceilings; but the problem to be solved in Germany, as well as in Italy, was that of vaulting over the nave, and the cathedrals of Spires, Worms and Mainz (fig. 45) are the three most important churches in which this was accomplished. The dates of their vaults have never been quite settled; that of Spires would seem to have been the earliest built, probably after 1162, when the church was seriously damaged by a conflagration, and the vault is groined only. In Worms (fig. 46) and Mainz there are diagonal moulded ribs, which suggest a later date. Although of great height and width, the absence of a triforium gallery in these cathedrals is a serious defect, as it deprives the interior of that scale which the smaller arcades in such a gallery give to the nave arcade below and the clerestory above, and of those horizontal lines given by string courses which are entirely wanting in these churches. Seeing that in some of the earlier churches, as at Gernrode, St Ursula (Cologne), and Nieder-Lahnstem, the triforium had already been introduced, and that it was repeated in the later examples at Limburg on the Lahn, Bacharach, Andernach, Bonn, Sinzig, and St Gereon (Cologne), it is difficult to understand why, in the three great typical German Romanesque churches, they should have been omitted. Externally the design is extremely fine, owing to the grouping of the many towers at the west and on either side of the transept or choir. In this respect the cathedral of Mainz is the most superb structure in Germany, and to the cathedral of Spires with its fine entrance porch (fig. 47) must be given the second place.One of the most perfect examples of the Rhenish-Romanesque styles is the church of the abbey of Laach, completed shortly after the middle of the 12th century. The eastern part of the church resembles the ordinary type, but at the west end there is a narrow transept flanked by circular towers, and a western apse enclosed in an atrium with cloisters round, which forms the entrance to the church. The sculptures in the capitals of the atrium are of the finest description and represent the perfected type of the German Romanesque style. In addition to the two circular towers flanking the west transept, a square tower rises in the centre of the west front, two square towers flank the choir and a crystal lantern crowns the crossing of the main transept, and the grouping of all these features is very fine and picturesque in effect. A small church at Rosheim in Alsace is quite Lombardic in its exterior design, the pilaster strips and arched corbel tables being almost identical. The same applies to the church at Marmoutier, but the towers flanking the main front and the square tower on the crossing of the western transept produce a composition which one looks for in vain in the greater number of the churches in Italy.In describing the Lombardic churches of North Italy, reference has been made to the probable origin of the eaves-gallery, best represented in the eastern apse of Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo. This feature was largely adopted throughout the Rhine churches, and in the Apostles’ church and St Martin’s at Cologne receives its fullest development, being in addition to the eastern apse carried round the apses of the north and south transepts, which in these two churches and in St-Mary-in-the-Capitol, also in Cologne, constitute a special treatment. In the Apostles’ church, where round towers are built at the junction of the three apses, the effect is extremely pleasing. In the church at Bonn, the single apse is flanked by two lofty towers which give great importance to the east front.The steeples of the same period have a character of their own. They are either square or octangular in plan, arcaded or pierced with windows, and roofed with gables or with spires rising out of the gables.One peculiarity found in some of the German churches, and specially those in the north-east, is that the nave and aisles are of the same height. To these the termHallenkirchenis given. This type of design is very grand internally, owing to the vast height of the piers and arches. It also dispenses with the necessity for flying buttresses, as the aisles, which are only half the width of the nave, carry the thrust of the vault direct to the external buttresses. The nave, however, is not so well lighted, though the aisle windows are sometimes of stupendous height. The principal examples are those of the church of St Stephen, Vienna, where both nave and aisles are carried over with one vast root; at Munster, theWiesenkircheat Soest; St Lawrence, Nuremberg; St Martin’s, Landshut; Munich cathedral, and others.St Gereon (1200-1227) and St Cunibert (1205-1248), in Cologne, besides churches at Naumburg, Limburg and Gelnhausen, in which the pointed arch is employed, are almost the only transitional examples in Germany, and respond to work of a century earlier in France. Toward the end of the 13th century the Romanesque style was supplanted by a style which in no way grew out of it, but wasrather an imitation of a foreign style, the earliest examples being in theLiebfrauenkircheat Trèves (1227-1243), and the churches at Marburg (1235-1283) and Altenberg (1255-1301). In the latter church is a French chevet with seven apsidal chapels. This brings us to the great typical cathedral of Germany at Cologne (fig. 48), which had the advantages of having been designed at the best age and completed on the original design, so that with small exceptions a uniformity of style reigns throughout it. It was begun in 1270 and apparently based on the plan of Amiens, the transepts however having an additional bay each, and the two first bays of the nave having thicker piers so as to carry the enormous towers and spires which flank the chief façade. The principal defect of the building is its relative shortness, owing to its disproportionate height. This has always been felt in the interior, and now that the lofty buildings all round have been taken down, isolating the cathedral on all sides, it has the appearance of an overgrown monster. The length of the cathedral is 468 ft., 17 ft. less than the cathedral at Ulm, the longest in Germany. The height of the nave vault is 155 ft., and as the width is only 41.6 (about one in four) the proportion is very unpleasing. There is also a certain mechanical finish throughout the design, which renders it far less poetical than the great French cathedrals. Where, however, it excels is in the extraordinary vigour of its execution, the depth of the mouldings, and the projection given to the leading architectural features; and in this respect, when compared with St Ouen at Rouen, about fifty years later, the latter (which is even more mechanical in its setting out) looks wire-drawn and poor. The twin spires of the façade rise to the height of 510 ft.; they were completed only in the latter part of the 19th century, and would have gained in breadth of effect if there had been some plain surfaces left. In this respect the spire of Freiburg cathedral, which is simple in outline and detail, is finer, and gains in contrast on account of the simpler masonry of the lower part of the tower. The spire at Ulm cathedral, only recently terminated, rises to the height of 530 ft. In both these cases the single tower is preferable to the double towers of Cologne, when elaborated to the same extent, as they are in all these examples; and perhaps that is one of the reasons why the spires of Strassburg and Antwerp cathedrals are more satisfactory, as the twin towers were never built. The front of Strassburg cathedral (1277-1318), by Erwin von Steinbach, is too much cut up by vertical lines of masonry, owing to thetours-de-forcein tracery of which the German mason was so fond. On the whole the most beautiful of German spires is that of St Stephen’s at Vienna, and one of its advantages would seem to be that its transition from the square base to the octagon is so well marked in the design that it is difficult to say where the tower ends and the spire begins. The strong horizontal courses under the spires of Strassburg or Freiburg are defects from this point of view.Fig.48.—Plan of Cathedral at Cologne.In domestic architecture nothing remains of the palace at Aix-la-Chapelle, but at Lorsch near Mannheim is the entrance gateway of the convent which was dedicated by Charlemagne in 774. It is in two storeys, in the lower one three semicircular arches flanked by columns with extremely classic capitals. The upper storey is decorated with what might have been described as a blind arcade, except that instead of arches are triangular spaces similar to some windows found in Saxon architecture; the whole gateway being crowned with a classic cornice. The palaces at Goslar (1050) and Dankwarderode in Brunswick (1150-1170) still preserve their great halls, and in the palace built (1130-1150) by the emperor Frederick I. at Gelnhausen there remain portions extremely fine and vigorous in style, and showing a strong Byzantine influence. The largest and most important castle is that of the Wartburg at Eisenach, which is in complete preservation.To sum up, the German Complete Gothic is essentially national in its complete character. It has many and obvious defects. From the first there is conspicuous in it that love of lines, and that desire to play with geometrical figures, which in time degenerated into work more full of conceit and triviality than that of any school of medieval artists. These conceits are worked out most elaborately in the traceries of windows and panelling. The finest early examples are in the cathedral at Minden; a little later, perhaps, the best series is in the cloister of Constance cathedral; and of the latest description the examples are innumerable. But it is worth observing that they rarely at any time have any ogee lines. They are severely geometrical and regular in their form, and quite unlike our own late Middle Pointed, or the French Flamboyant. In sculpture the Germans did not shine. They, like the English, did not introduce it with profusion, though they were very prone to the representations of effigies of the deceased as monuments.In one or two respects, however, Germany is still possessed of a wealth of medieval examples, such as is hardly to be paralleled in Europe. The vast collection of brick buildings, for instance, is unequalled. If a line be drawn due east and west, and passing through Berlin, the whole of the plain lying to the north, and extending from Russia to Holland, is destitute of stone, and the medieval architects, who always availed themselves of the material which was most natural in the district, built all over this vast extent of country almost entirely in brick. The examples of their works in this humble material are not at all confined to ecclesiastical works; houses, castles, town-halls, town walls and gateways, are so plentiful and so invariably picturesque and striking in their character, that it is impossible to pass a harsh verdict on the architects who left behind them such extraordinary examples of their skill and fertility of resource.This development is largely due to the fact that all these countries in north-east Germany were connected and very much influenced by the confederation of the Hanse towns, and hence the similarity in the design of all their buildings. Although some of the earliest buildings date from the 12th century, the chief development took place in the 14th and 15th centuries, and in the 16th century formed the basis of the transitional works of the Renaissance. The principal Hanse towns are Hamburg, Lübeck and Danzig. The chief buildings in Hamburg were destroyed by the fire in 1842, and it is in Lübeck that the most important churches are to be found. The church of St Mary (Marienkirche), 1304, is the most striking on account of its dimensions, 346 ft. in length, the nave being 123 ft. high, with two western towers 407 ft. high. Great scale is given to the building in consequence of the small material (brick) used, and some of the windows in this or other churches are nearly 100 ft. in height, with lofty mullions, all in moulded brick. TheDomor cathedral of Lübeck, though slightly larger, is not so good in design, but has a remarkable north porch in richly moulded brick, with marble shafts and carved capitals. In the church of St Catherine the choir is raised above a lofty vaulted crypt, similar to examples in some of the Italian churches. TheMarienkircheat Danzig (1345-1503), built by a grand master of the Teutonic knights, to whom the chief development of the architecture of north-east Germany is largely due, is one of those examples already mentioned asHallenkircken. The nave, aisles, side chapels, transept and aisles, and choir with square east end, are all of the same height; as the church is 280 ft. long and 125 ft. wide, with a transept 200 ft. long, the effect is that of one stupendous hall, but as the light is only obtained through the windows of the side chapels, the interior, though impressive, is somewhat gloomy. The same is found in the choir of the Franciscan church at Salzburg, where five slender piers, 70 ft. in height and4 ft. in diameter, carry the vault over an area 160 ft. long by 66 ft. wide. Right up in the north of Germany, in Pomerania, are many fine examples in brick and sometimes of great size, such as those at Stralsund, Stettin, Stargard, Pasewalk, and in the island of Rugen. TheMarienkircheat Stralsund, owing to its massive construction and picturesque grouping, is an interesting example. Its western transept or narthex with tower in centre is a common type of the churches in Pomerania, and though very inferior in design is a version of those which in England are seen in Ely and Peterborough cathedrals.In the entrance gateways to the towns and in domestic architecture north Germany is very rich; the palace of the grand master of the Teutonic Order at Marienburg is a vast and imposing structure in brick (1276-1335), in which the chapter house of the grand master, with its fan-vaulted roof, resting on a single pillar of granite in the centre, and the entrance porch of the church richly carved in brick, are among the finest examples executed in that material.(R. P. S.)Romanesque and Gothic in Belgium and HollandFig.49.—Plan of Cathedral at Tournai.Of early Romanesque work neither Belgium nor Holland retains any examples; for with the exception of the small building at Nijmwegen built by Charlemagne, there are no churches prior to the 11th century, and at first the influence in Belgium would seem to have come from Lombardy, through the Rhine Provinces. As all her large churches are built in the centres of her most important towns, it is probable that the older examples were pulled down to make way for others more in accordance with the increasing wealth and population. In the 13th century they came under the influence of the great Gothic movement in France, and two or three of their cathedrals compare favourably with the French cathedrals. The finest example of earlier date is that of the cathedral of Tournai (fig. 49), the nave of which was built in the second half of the 11th century, to which a transept with north and south apses and aisles round them was added about the middle of the 12th century. These latter features are contemporaneous with similar examples at Cologne, and the idea of the plan may have been taken from them; externally, however, they differ so widely that the design may be looked upon as an original conception, though the nave arcades, triforium storey, and clerestory resemble the contemporaneous work in Normandy. The original choir was pulled down in the 14th century, and a magnificentchevetof the French type erected in its place. The grouping of the towers which flank the transept, with the central lantern, the apses, and lofty choir, is extremely fine (fig. 50). The sculptures on the west front, dating from the 12th to the 16th century, protected by a portico of the late 15th century, are of remarkable interest and in good preservation. They are in three tiers, the two lowest consisting of bas-reliefs, the upper tier with life-size figures in niches, resting on corbels. The Romanesque tower of the church of St Jacques in the same town, with angle turrets, is a picturesque and well-designed structure.Other early examples are those of St Bartholomew at Liége (A.D.1015) and the churches at Roermonde and St Servais at Maastricht, both belonging to Holland. The latter is an extremely fine example, which recalls the work at Cologne, and in its great western narthex follows on the lines of the German churches at Gernrode, Corvey and Brunswick.Among other churches of later date are St Gudule at Brussels, with Gothic 13th century choir and a 14th century nave with great circular pillars, the west front of later date, approached by a lofty flight of steps, having a very fine effect; Ste Croix at Liége, with a western apse; St Martin at Ypres and St Bavon at Ghent, both with 13th-century choir and 14th-century nave; Tongres, 13th century with great circular pillars and an early Romanesque cloister; Notre Dame de Pamele at Oudenarde; and Notre Dame at Bruges, 14th century. Of 15th and 16th century work (for the Gothic style lasted without any trace of the Renaissance till the middle of the 16th century) are St Gommaire at Lierre (1425-1557); St Martin, Alost (1498), St Jacques, Antwerp; and St Martin and St Jacques, both at Liége. The largest in area, and in that sense the most important church in Belgium, is Notre Dame at Antwerp (misnamed the cathedral). It was begun in 1352, but not completed till the 16th century, so that it possesses many transitional features. It is one of the few churches with three aisles on each side of the nave, the outer aisle being nearly as wide as the nave, which is too narrow to have a fine effect. Only one of the two spires of the west front is built, perhaps to its advantage; the upper portion presents in its pierced stone spires one of those remarkabletours-de-forceof which masons are so proud, and having a simple substructure it gains by contrast with and is much superior to the spires of Cologne, Vienna and Ulm.Fig.50.—Tournai Cathedral.Among the most remarkable features in these Belgian churches are the rood screens, the earliest of which is in the church of St Peter at Louvain, dating from 1400, in rich Flamboyant Gothic, retaining all its statues. In the church at Dixmuiden, St Gommaire at Lierre (1534), and in Notre Dame, Walcourt (1531), are other examples all in perfect preservation; the last is said to have been given by the emperor Charles V., and in the same church is a lofty tabernacle in Flamboyant Gothic.Owing to the comparatively late date of many of the Belgian churches, they are all more or less unfinished, as the religious fervour of the citizens who built them would seem to have changed in favour of their town halls and civic buildings immediately connected with trade. The Cloth Hall at Ypres (1200-1334) with a frontage of 460 ft., three storeys high with a lofty central tower and a hall on the upper storey 435 ft. long, one of the finest buildings of the period in Europe; Les Halles at Bruges, originally built as a cloth hall, also with a lofty central tower; and a simple example at Malines, are the earliest buildings of this type.There follow a series of magnificent town halls, of which that at Brussels is the largest, but the tower not being quite in the centre of its façade gives it a lopsided appearance. There is no tower to the town hall at Louvain (1448-1469), but this is compensated for by the angle turrets, and the design is far bolder. In both these examples the vertical lines are too strongly accentuated, and seeing that they are in two or three storeys, the latter should have been maintained in the design of the façades. In this respect the town hall of Oudenarde (1527-1535) is more truthful, and as a result is far superior to them; the tower also is in the centre of the principal front, which at all events is better than at Brussels, though as a matter of composition it would have been more effective and picturesque if ithad been placed at one end of the façade. In the town hall at Mons there is no tower, but a fine upper storey with ten windows filled with good tracery. Of the town hall at Ghent only one half is Gothic (1480-1482), as it was not completed till a century later, and though overladen with Flamboyant ornament it has fine qualities in its design. Although but few examples still exist of the Gothic structures belonging to the various gilds, owing to their having been rebuilt in the Renaissance style, those of the Bateliers at Ghent (1531), and of the Fishmongers at Malines (1519), bear witness in the rich decoration to the wealth of these corporations.Holland is extremely poor in church architecture, but there are two examples which should be noted, at Utrecht and Bois-le-Duc (’s Hertogenbosch). Of the former only the choir exists. It is of great height (115 ft.), and belongs to the finest period of Gothic architecture (1251-1267). The nave was destroyed by a hurricane in 1674, and so seriously damaged that it was all taken down (a wall being built to enclose the choir) and an open square left between it and the lofty west tower. The cathedral of St John at Bois-le-Duc, though founded in 1300, was rebuilt in the Flamboyant period (1419-1497). It is of great length (400 ft.) with a finechevet, and possessed originally a magnificent rood screen in the early Renaissance style (1625); this seemed to the burghers to be out of keeping with the Gothic church, so it was taken down and sold to the South Kensington Museum, being replaced by a very poor example in Modern Gothic.There is only one Gothic town hall of importance in Holland, that at Middleburg (1468), a fine example, and quite equal to those in Belgium. The ground and upper floors are kept distinct, and as the wall surface of these lower storeys is in plain masonry, the traceried windows and the canopied niches (all of which retain their statues) gain by the contrast. There is a small picturesque specimen at Gouda, and at Leeuwarden in the house of correction (Kanselary) a rich example in brick and stone, with a remarkable stepped gable in the centre having statues on its steps.Both in Belgium and Holland there are numerous examples of domestic architecture in brick with quoins and tracery in stone, in both cases alternating with brick courses and arch voussoirs and with infinite variety of design.

After the middle of the 16th century the practice of Gothic architecture virtually died out, though traces of its influence, especially in rural districts, were hardly lost until the end of the 17th century. Good, sound, solid and simple forms, well constructed by men who respected themselves and their work, and did not build only for the passing hour, were still popular and general, so that the vernacular architecture to a late period was often good and never absolutely uninteresting.

Scotland.—A few words will suffice for Scottish and Irish architecture, since the development in these countries followed much the same course of change as in England.

The earliest ecclesiastical structures which still survive in Scotland follow the same general type as those of Ireland. The monastic foundations of Queen Margaret and her sons introduced into Scotland the Norman manner then universal in England. The best examples, such as the nave of Dunfermline, which is an obvious inspiration from Durham, Kelso of the later 12th century, and the parish churches of Dalmeny and Leuchars, present the same characteristics as are found in English churches of somewhat earlier dates than the buildings in question, and some Romanesque forms survive to a later period than in England. In the 13th century, too, the style of the Scottish churches corresponds very closely with that of England, though the details are generally simpler, and the structures are smaller. It is naturally allied most closely with the north of England, where Cistercian influence in the direction of simplicity and severity had been exercised with the best results. The transept of Dryburgh, the choir and crypt of Glasgow cathedral, the nave of Dunblane, the choir of Brechin, and later Elgin cathedral, exhibit the style at its purest and best. The disturbed condition of the country during the 14th century was unfavourable to architecture, and when building revived at the beginning of the 15th century its style became more national. During the first half of the 15th century, it shows a certain borrowing from English architecture of the flowing-tracery period. Later, many features are borrowed both from England and France, and architecture develops in picturesque and interesting fashion. Melrose is one of the most characteristic, as it certainly is one of the most charming of Scottish buildings; its earlier parts bear a close resemblance to the earlier 14th-century work at York, while its later parts show more similarity to English “Perpendicular” than is common in Scotland. One of the most characteristic features of Scottish architecture in the 15th century is the pointed barrel vault, which directly supports the stone flagged roof. French influence is seen in the employment of the polygonal apse for the termination of choirs, and in some approaches to Flamboyant tracery. The details of the later Gothic churches have but slight connexion either with France or England, and show a curious revival of earlier motives. The semicircular arch is in frequent use, and the “nail-head” and “dog-tooth” ornament, as well as the use of detached shafts, are revived. One of the most remarkable buildings of the 15th century in Scotland is the collegiate church of Roslin, which has a pointed barrel vault over its choir, with transverse barrel vaults over the aisles, and is distinguished by the extreme richness of its decoration.

The domestic remains in Scotland are full of picturesque beauty and magnificence. They are a distinctly national class of buildings of great solidity, and much was sacrificed by their builders to the genius of the picturesque. They can only be classed with the latest Gothic buildings of other countries, but the mode of design shown in them lasted much later than the late Gothic style did in England. The vast height to which their walls were carried, the picturesque use made of circular towers, the freedom with which buildings were planned at various angles of contact to each other, and the general simplicity of the ordinary wall, are their most distinct characteristics.

Ireland.—The chief interest of the medieval architecture of Ireland belongs to the buildings which were erected before the English conquest of the 12th century. The early monastic settlements seem to have resembled the primitive Celtic fortresses, and consisted of a series of huts or cells, surrounded by an enclosing wall. The so-called “bee-hive” cell, which goes back to pre-Christian times, was built of rough stone rubble without mortar, and roofed in the same manner by corbelling over the courses of masonry. Some of these were certainly dwellings, but others were oratories. The largest of those in Skellig Michael is four-sided, and from this type the stone-roofed church of oblong plan was developed. The later type, with oblong nave and small square-ended chancel, retained much of the character of these primitive structures, and their barrel vaults were sometimes independent of the stone roof-covering, a system which lasted into the 12th and 13th centuries. A certain megalithic character, and the inclined jambs of doorway openings, are marked features of these early churches. The round towers so frequently associated with them are believed to be not earlier than the 9th century. Before the introduction of Norman forms, Ireland possessed a Romanesque style of her own, characterized by the survival of horizontal forms and their incorporation into the round-arched style, the retention of the inclined jambs of doorways, rich surface decoration, and the use of certain ornamental motives of earlier Celtic origin. King Cormac’s chapel at Cashel is one of the best examples of the imported Norman manner of the 12th century, and here we find much of the influence of the earlier native style. The English conquest may be said to have been the introduction to Ireland of Gothic art, and it was the local variety of western England and south Wales which the conquerors introduced. Among the buildings erected by the English in Ireland, Kilkenny cathedral and the two 13th-century cathedrals of Dublin—Christ Church and St Patrick’s—are the most remarkable, but there are many others. Their style is most plainly that of the English conqueror, with no concession to, or consideration of, earlier Irish forms of art. The result of the conquest was that the native style of construction was never applied to large buildings, though it did not at once disappear, as is witnessed by the church St Doulough near Malahide, which appears to be a 14th-century building. The characteristic features of later medieval Irish buildings, such as the stepped battlements, the retention of flowing lines in the tracery, and the peculiar treatment of crockets, are matters of no great importance in the history of architecture, and indeed it is hardly to be expected that a country with so stormy a history could have given rise to any systematic developments. Of the monastic remains those of the friaries are the most numerous, Ireland having many more friars’ churches to show than England, but such peculiarities as they possess belong rather to the order than to any local influences.

(J. Bn.)

Romanesque and Gothic Architecture in Germany

With the exception of the church built at Trèves (Trier) by the empress Helena, of which small portions can still be traced in the cathedral, there are no remains of earlier date than the tomb-house built by Charlemagne at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), which, though much restored in the 19th century, is still in good preservation. It consists (fig. 44) of an octagonal domed hall surrounded by aisles in two storeys, both vaulted; externally the structure is a polygon of sixteen sides, about 105 ft. in diameter, and it was preceded by a porch flanked by turrets. It is thought to have been copied from S. Vitale at Ravenna, but there are many essential differences. The same design was repeated at Ottmarsheim and Essen, and a simpler version exists at Nijmwegen in the Netherlands, also built by Charlemagne. Although no remains exist of the monastery of St Gall in Switzerland (seeAbbey), built in the beginning of the 9th century, a valuable manuscript plan was found in the 17th century, in its library, which would seem to have been a design for a completemonastery. It contains features which are peculiar to the early German churches and are rarely found elsewhere, and is therefore of considerable interest, suggesting that some of the accessories of a monastery, supposed to have been the result of subsequent development, were all clearly set forth at this early period. The plan shows an eastern apse with a crypt, and a choir in front; a western apse, nave and aisles, with a series of altars down the latter; and on the west side, but detached from the apse, two circular towers with staircases in them. Unfortunately there are no churches remaining of the same date from which we might judge how far these arrangements were followed; but there are three early churches in the island of Reichenau on the Lake of Constance, in one of which, Mittelzell, is a western apse with staircases (here built up into a central tower), nave, and aisles with altars at the side between every window. The eastern portion has been rebuilt. At Oberzell, at the south end of the island, is a vaulted crypt, which dates from the end of the 10th century. In the third and much smaller church, Unterzell, there was no crypt, but three eastern apses and a western apse, which was destroyed when the present nave was built. At Gernrode in the Harz is a church with western and eastern apses with vaulted crypts underneath (one of which dates from 960 when the church was founded), and circular towers with staircases in them on either side of the western apse. The church was completed about a century later. In the arcade between the nave and aisles piers alternate with the columns. Alternating piers are found also in Quedlinburg (the crypt of which dates from 936 and the church above about 1030) and many other early churches. Western apses exist at Drubeck, Ilbenstadt, Trèves, Huyseberg, St Michael and St Godehard at Hildesheim, Mainz, the Obermunster at Regensburg, Laach, Worms, and at a later date at Naumbergand Bamberg, showing that it was a feature generally accepted in early and late periods. It has, however, one great defect, that of depriving the west end of the church of those magnificent porches which are the glory of the churches of France, the cathedral of Spires (Speyer), the church at Limburg near Durkheim, the cathedrals of Erfurt and Regensburg, being the few examples where a dignified entrance is given; and further, that on entering the church from the side, one is distracted by the rivalry of the two apses, and it is only when turning the back on one or the other that one is able to judge of the monumental effect of the interior.

The greater number of the churches above mentioned were covered over with open timber roofs or flat ceilings; but the problem to be solved in Germany, as well as in Italy, was that of vaulting over the nave, and the cathedrals of Spires, Worms and Mainz (fig. 45) are the three most important churches in which this was accomplished. The dates of their vaults have never been quite settled; that of Spires would seem to have been the earliest built, probably after 1162, when the church was seriously damaged by a conflagration, and the vault is groined only. In Worms (fig. 46) and Mainz there are diagonal moulded ribs, which suggest a later date. Although of great height and width, the absence of a triforium gallery in these cathedrals is a serious defect, as it deprives the interior of that scale which the smaller arcades in such a gallery give to the nave arcade below and the clerestory above, and of those horizontal lines given by string courses which are entirely wanting in these churches. Seeing that in some of the earlier churches, as at Gernrode, St Ursula (Cologne), and Nieder-Lahnstem, the triforium had already been introduced, and that it was repeated in the later examples at Limburg on the Lahn, Bacharach, Andernach, Bonn, Sinzig, and St Gereon (Cologne), it is difficult to understand why, in the three great typical German Romanesque churches, they should have been omitted. Externally the design is extremely fine, owing to the grouping of the many towers at the west and on either side of the transept or choir. In this respect the cathedral of Mainz is the most superb structure in Germany, and to the cathedral of Spires with its fine entrance porch (fig. 47) must be given the second place.

One of the most perfect examples of the Rhenish-Romanesque styles is the church of the abbey of Laach, completed shortly after the middle of the 12th century. The eastern part of the church resembles the ordinary type, but at the west end there is a narrow transept flanked by circular towers, and a western apse enclosed in an atrium with cloisters round, which forms the entrance to the church. The sculptures in the capitals of the atrium are of the finest description and represent the perfected type of the German Romanesque style. In addition to the two circular towers flanking the west transept, a square tower rises in the centre of the west front, two square towers flank the choir and a crystal lantern crowns the crossing of the main transept, and the grouping of all these features is very fine and picturesque in effect. A small church at Rosheim in Alsace is quite Lombardic in its exterior design, the pilaster strips and arched corbel tables being almost identical. The same applies to the church at Marmoutier, but the towers flanking the main front and the square tower on the crossing of the western transept produce a composition which one looks for in vain in the greater number of the churches in Italy.

In describing the Lombardic churches of North Italy, reference has been made to the probable origin of the eaves-gallery, best represented in the eastern apse of Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo. This feature was largely adopted throughout the Rhine churches, and in the Apostles’ church and St Martin’s at Cologne receives its fullest development, being in addition to the eastern apse carried round the apses of the north and south transepts, which in these two churches and in St-Mary-in-the-Capitol, also in Cologne, constitute a special treatment. In the Apostles’ church, where round towers are built at the junction of the three apses, the effect is extremely pleasing. In the church at Bonn, the single apse is flanked by two lofty towers which give great importance to the east front.

The steeples of the same period have a character of their own. They are either square or octangular in plan, arcaded or pierced with windows, and roofed with gables or with spires rising out of the gables.

One peculiarity found in some of the German churches, and specially those in the north-east, is that the nave and aisles are of the same height. To these the termHallenkirchenis given. This type of design is very grand internally, owing to the vast height of the piers and arches. It also dispenses with the necessity for flying buttresses, as the aisles, which are only half the width of the nave, carry the thrust of the vault direct to the external buttresses. The nave, however, is not so well lighted, though the aisle windows are sometimes of stupendous height. The principal examples are those of the church of St Stephen, Vienna, where both nave and aisles are carried over with one vast root; at Munster, theWiesenkircheat Soest; St Lawrence, Nuremberg; St Martin’s, Landshut; Munich cathedral, and others.

St Gereon (1200-1227) and St Cunibert (1205-1248), in Cologne, besides churches at Naumburg, Limburg and Gelnhausen, in which the pointed arch is employed, are almost the only transitional examples in Germany, and respond to work of a century earlier in France. Toward the end of the 13th century the Romanesque style was supplanted by a style which in no way grew out of it, but wasrather an imitation of a foreign style, the earliest examples being in theLiebfrauenkircheat Trèves (1227-1243), and the churches at Marburg (1235-1283) and Altenberg (1255-1301). In the latter church is a French chevet with seven apsidal chapels. This brings us to the great typical cathedral of Germany at Cologne (fig. 48), which had the advantages of having been designed at the best age and completed on the original design, so that with small exceptions a uniformity of style reigns throughout it. It was begun in 1270 and apparently based on the plan of Amiens, the transepts however having an additional bay each, and the two first bays of the nave having thicker piers so as to carry the enormous towers and spires which flank the chief façade. The principal defect of the building is its relative shortness, owing to its disproportionate height. This has always been felt in the interior, and now that the lofty buildings all round have been taken down, isolating the cathedral on all sides, it has the appearance of an overgrown monster. The length of the cathedral is 468 ft., 17 ft. less than the cathedral at Ulm, the longest in Germany. The height of the nave vault is 155 ft., and as the width is only 41.6 (about one in four) the proportion is very unpleasing. There is also a certain mechanical finish throughout the design, which renders it far less poetical than the great French cathedrals. Where, however, it excels is in the extraordinary vigour of its execution, the depth of the mouldings, and the projection given to the leading architectural features; and in this respect, when compared with St Ouen at Rouen, about fifty years later, the latter (which is even more mechanical in its setting out) looks wire-drawn and poor. The twin spires of the façade rise to the height of 510 ft.; they were completed only in the latter part of the 19th century, and would have gained in breadth of effect if there had been some plain surfaces left. In this respect the spire of Freiburg cathedral, which is simple in outline and detail, is finer, and gains in contrast on account of the simpler masonry of the lower part of the tower. The spire at Ulm cathedral, only recently terminated, rises to the height of 530 ft. In both these cases the single tower is preferable to the double towers of Cologne, when elaborated to the same extent, as they are in all these examples; and perhaps that is one of the reasons why the spires of Strassburg and Antwerp cathedrals are more satisfactory, as the twin towers were never built. The front of Strassburg cathedral (1277-1318), by Erwin von Steinbach, is too much cut up by vertical lines of masonry, owing to thetours-de-forcein tracery of which the German mason was so fond. On the whole the most beautiful of German spires is that of St Stephen’s at Vienna, and one of its advantages would seem to be that its transition from the square base to the octagon is so well marked in the design that it is difficult to say where the tower ends and the spire begins. The strong horizontal courses under the spires of Strassburg or Freiburg are defects from this point of view.

In domestic architecture nothing remains of the palace at Aix-la-Chapelle, but at Lorsch near Mannheim is the entrance gateway of the convent which was dedicated by Charlemagne in 774. It is in two storeys, in the lower one three semicircular arches flanked by columns with extremely classic capitals. The upper storey is decorated with what might have been described as a blind arcade, except that instead of arches are triangular spaces similar to some windows found in Saxon architecture; the whole gateway being crowned with a classic cornice. The palaces at Goslar (1050) and Dankwarderode in Brunswick (1150-1170) still preserve their great halls, and in the palace built (1130-1150) by the emperor Frederick I. at Gelnhausen there remain portions extremely fine and vigorous in style, and showing a strong Byzantine influence. The largest and most important castle is that of the Wartburg at Eisenach, which is in complete preservation.

To sum up, the German Complete Gothic is essentially national in its complete character. It has many and obvious defects. From the first there is conspicuous in it that love of lines, and that desire to play with geometrical figures, which in time degenerated into work more full of conceit and triviality than that of any school of medieval artists. These conceits are worked out most elaborately in the traceries of windows and panelling. The finest early examples are in the cathedral at Minden; a little later, perhaps, the best series is in the cloister of Constance cathedral; and of the latest description the examples are innumerable. But it is worth observing that they rarely at any time have any ogee lines. They are severely geometrical and regular in their form, and quite unlike our own late Middle Pointed, or the French Flamboyant. In sculpture the Germans did not shine. They, like the English, did not introduce it with profusion, though they were very prone to the representations of effigies of the deceased as monuments.

In one or two respects, however, Germany is still possessed of a wealth of medieval examples, such as is hardly to be paralleled in Europe. The vast collection of brick buildings, for instance, is unequalled. If a line be drawn due east and west, and passing through Berlin, the whole of the plain lying to the north, and extending from Russia to Holland, is destitute of stone, and the medieval architects, who always availed themselves of the material which was most natural in the district, built all over this vast extent of country almost entirely in brick. The examples of their works in this humble material are not at all confined to ecclesiastical works; houses, castles, town-halls, town walls and gateways, are so plentiful and so invariably picturesque and striking in their character, that it is impossible to pass a harsh verdict on the architects who left behind them such extraordinary examples of their skill and fertility of resource.

This development is largely due to the fact that all these countries in north-east Germany were connected and very much influenced by the confederation of the Hanse towns, and hence the similarity in the design of all their buildings. Although some of the earliest buildings date from the 12th century, the chief development took place in the 14th and 15th centuries, and in the 16th century formed the basis of the transitional works of the Renaissance. The principal Hanse towns are Hamburg, Lübeck and Danzig. The chief buildings in Hamburg were destroyed by the fire in 1842, and it is in Lübeck that the most important churches are to be found. The church of St Mary (Marienkirche), 1304, is the most striking on account of its dimensions, 346 ft. in length, the nave being 123 ft. high, with two western towers 407 ft. high. Great scale is given to the building in consequence of the small material (brick) used, and some of the windows in this or other churches are nearly 100 ft. in height, with lofty mullions, all in moulded brick. TheDomor cathedral of Lübeck, though slightly larger, is not so good in design, but has a remarkable north porch in richly moulded brick, with marble shafts and carved capitals. In the church of St Catherine the choir is raised above a lofty vaulted crypt, similar to examples in some of the Italian churches. TheMarienkircheat Danzig (1345-1503), built by a grand master of the Teutonic knights, to whom the chief development of the architecture of north-east Germany is largely due, is one of those examples already mentioned asHallenkircken. The nave, aisles, side chapels, transept and aisles, and choir with square east end, are all of the same height; as the church is 280 ft. long and 125 ft. wide, with a transept 200 ft. long, the effect is that of one stupendous hall, but as the light is only obtained through the windows of the side chapels, the interior, though impressive, is somewhat gloomy. The same is found in the choir of the Franciscan church at Salzburg, where five slender piers, 70 ft. in height and4 ft. in diameter, carry the vault over an area 160 ft. long by 66 ft. wide. Right up in the north of Germany, in Pomerania, are many fine examples in brick and sometimes of great size, such as those at Stralsund, Stettin, Stargard, Pasewalk, and in the island of Rugen. TheMarienkircheat Stralsund, owing to its massive construction and picturesque grouping, is an interesting example. Its western transept or narthex with tower in centre is a common type of the churches in Pomerania, and though very inferior in design is a version of those which in England are seen in Ely and Peterborough cathedrals.

In the entrance gateways to the towns and in domestic architecture north Germany is very rich; the palace of the grand master of the Teutonic Order at Marienburg is a vast and imposing structure in brick (1276-1335), in which the chapter house of the grand master, with its fan-vaulted roof, resting on a single pillar of granite in the centre, and the entrance porch of the church richly carved in brick, are among the finest examples executed in that material.

(R. P. S.)

Romanesque and Gothic in Belgium and Holland

Of early Romanesque work neither Belgium nor Holland retains any examples; for with the exception of the small building at Nijmwegen built by Charlemagne, there are no churches prior to the 11th century, and at first the influence in Belgium would seem to have come from Lombardy, through the Rhine Provinces. As all her large churches are built in the centres of her most important towns, it is probable that the older examples were pulled down to make way for others more in accordance with the increasing wealth and population. In the 13th century they came under the influence of the great Gothic movement in France, and two or three of their cathedrals compare favourably with the French cathedrals. The finest example of earlier date is that of the cathedral of Tournai (fig. 49), the nave of which was built in the second half of the 11th century, to which a transept with north and south apses and aisles round them was added about the middle of the 12th century. These latter features are contemporaneous with similar examples at Cologne, and the idea of the plan may have been taken from them; externally, however, they differ so widely that the design may be looked upon as an original conception, though the nave arcades, triforium storey, and clerestory resemble the contemporaneous work in Normandy. The original choir was pulled down in the 14th century, and a magnificentchevetof the French type erected in its place. The grouping of the towers which flank the transept, with the central lantern, the apses, and lofty choir, is extremely fine (fig. 50). The sculptures on the west front, dating from the 12th to the 16th century, protected by a portico of the late 15th century, are of remarkable interest and in good preservation. They are in three tiers, the two lowest consisting of bas-reliefs, the upper tier with life-size figures in niches, resting on corbels. The Romanesque tower of the church of St Jacques in the same town, with angle turrets, is a picturesque and well-designed structure.

Other early examples are those of St Bartholomew at Liége (A.D.1015) and the churches at Roermonde and St Servais at Maastricht, both belonging to Holland. The latter is an extremely fine example, which recalls the work at Cologne, and in its great western narthex follows on the lines of the German churches at Gernrode, Corvey and Brunswick.

Among other churches of later date are St Gudule at Brussels, with Gothic 13th century choir and a 14th century nave with great circular pillars, the west front of later date, approached by a lofty flight of steps, having a very fine effect; Ste Croix at Liége, with a western apse; St Martin at Ypres and St Bavon at Ghent, both with 13th-century choir and 14th-century nave; Tongres, 13th century with great circular pillars and an early Romanesque cloister; Notre Dame de Pamele at Oudenarde; and Notre Dame at Bruges, 14th century. Of 15th and 16th century work (for the Gothic style lasted without any trace of the Renaissance till the middle of the 16th century) are St Gommaire at Lierre (1425-1557); St Martin, Alost (1498), St Jacques, Antwerp; and St Martin and St Jacques, both at Liége. The largest in area, and in that sense the most important church in Belgium, is Notre Dame at Antwerp (misnamed the cathedral). It was begun in 1352, but not completed till the 16th century, so that it possesses many transitional features. It is one of the few churches with three aisles on each side of the nave, the outer aisle being nearly as wide as the nave, which is too narrow to have a fine effect. Only one of the two spires of the west front is built, perhaps to its advantage; the upper portion presents in its pierced stone spires one of those remarkabletours-de-forceof which masons are so proud, and having a simple substructure it gains by contrast with and is much superior to the spires of Cologne, Vienna and Ulm.

Among the most remarkable features in these Belgian churches are the rood screens, the earliest of which is in the church of St Peter at Louvain, dating from 1400, in rich Flamboyant Gothic, retaining all its statues. In the church at Dixmuiden, St Gommaire at Lierre (1534), and in Notre Dame, Walcourt (1531), are other examples all in perfect preservation; the last is said to have been given by the emperor Charles V., and in the same church is a lofty tabernacle in Flamboyant Gothic.

Owing to the comparatively late date of many of the Belgian churches, they are all more or less unfinished, as the religious fervour of the citizens who built them would seem to have changed in favour of their town halls and civic buildings immediately connected with trade. The Cloth Hall at Ypres (1200-1334) with a frontage of 460 ft., three storeys high with a lofty central tower and a hall on the upper storey 435 ft. long, one of the finest buildings of the period in Europe; Les Halles at Bruges, originally built as a cloth hall, also with a lofty central tower; and a simple example at Malines, are the earliest buildings of this type.

There follow a series of magnificent town halls, of which that at Brussels is the largest, but the tower not being quite in the centre of its façade gives it a lopsided appearance. There is no tower to the town hall at Louvain (1448-1469), but this is compensated for by the angle turrets, and the design is far bolder. In both these examples the vertical lines are too strongly accentuated, and seeing that they are in two or three storeys, the latter should have been maintained in the design of the façades. In this respect the town hall of Oudenarde (1527-1535) is more truthful, and as a result is far superior to them; the tower also is in the centre of the principal front, which at all events is better than at Brussels, though as a matter of composition it would have been more effective and picturesque if ithad been placed at one end of the façade. In the town hall at Mons there is no tower, but a fine upper storey with ten windows filled with good tracery. Of the town hall at Ghent only one half is Gothic (1480-1482), as it was not completed till a century later, and though overladen with Flamboyant ornament it has fine qualities in its design. Although but few examples still exist of the Gothic structures belonging to the various gilds, owing to their having been rebuilt in the Renaissance style, those of the Bateliers at Ghent (1531), and of the Fishmongers at Malines (1519), bear witness in the rich decoration to the wealth of these corporations.

Holland is extremely poor in church architecture, but there are two examples which should be noted, at Utrecht and Bois-le-Duc (’s Hertogenbosch). Of the former only the choir exists. It is of great height (115 ft.), and belongs to the finest period of Gothic architecture (1251-1267). The nave was destroyed by a hurricane in 1674, and so seriously damaged that it was all taken down (a wall being built to enclose the choir) and an open square left between it and the lofty west tower. The cathedral of St John at Bois-le-Duc, though founded in 1300, was rebuilt in the Flamboyant period (1419-1497). It is of great length (400 ft.) with a finechevet, and possessed originally a magnificent rood screen in the early Renaissance style (1625); this seemed to the burghers to be out of keeping with the Gothic church, so it was taken down and sold to the South Kensington Museum, being replaced by a very poor example in Modern Gothic.

There is only one Gothic town hall of importance in Holland, that at Middleburg (1468), a fine example, and quite equal to those in Belgium. The ground and upper floors are kept distinct, and as the wall surface of these lower storeys is in plain masonry, the traceried windows and the canopied niches (all of which retain their statues) gain by the contrast. There is a small picturesque specimen at Gouda, and at Leeuwarden in the house of correction (Kanselary) a rich example in brick and stone, with a remarkable stepped gable in the centre having statues on its steps.

Both in Belgium and Holland there are numerous examples of domestic architecture in brick with quoins and tracery in stone, in both cases alternating with brick courses and arch voussoirs and with infinite variety of design.

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