i. INFLUENCES.
i. Geographical. On the banks of the Rhine, and in the
south, cities had been established during the Roman occupation,
and it was in these parts that Christianity took root, while, in
the north and east, paganism still existed.
ii. Geological. The existence of stone in the Rhine valley
facilitated the erection in this material of churches, rendered
permanent and fireproof by the early introduction of vaulting.
No stone being found on the sandy plains of Northern Germany,
brick was there employed, and the style of that district is conse-
quently varied from that of the Rhine valley.
iii. Climate. The average temperature of Central Germany
may be said to be the same as Southern England, but with wider
extremes, as the heat in the summer is ten degrees higher, and
in the winter correspondingly lower, so that carriages in Berlin
are converted into sledges.
iv. Religion. In the early period the Germans looked much
to Rome, and Charlemagne, being a strong supporter of Christi-
anity, forced the people of Saxony to embrace that religion. The
plan of a typical church of this period is peculiar in having
eastern and western apses. There are also a number of import-
ant circular churches, built as tombs, or more especially as
baptisteries, the conversion of the tribes giving great importance
to that ceremony.
v. Social and Political. Germany united under Charle-
magne afterwards split up into small principalities, whereas
France, originally divided into many distinct nationalities,
became fused into an absolute monarchy and has remained, in
GERMAN ROMANESQUE. 259
.spite of allchanges, the most united of continental powers. In
the later portion of this period, Germany was troubled
by the
dissensions of the two rival parties, the Guelphs and
Ghibellines,
the one supporting the Church and municipal
rights, and the
other representing the Imperial authority, but the conflict between
the two took place mainly in North Italy (page
405).
vi. Historical. Charlemagne (A.D. 768-814), the first Prankish
king who became Roman Emperor, was crowned by the Pope at
Rome, and ruled over the land of the Franks, which included all
Central Germany and Northern Gaul. In addition he established
the Prankish dominion over Southern Gaul and Northern
Italy
(No. 90). In a great measure, he restored the arts and civiliza-
tion to Western Europe, resulting in the erection of
many
important buildings in his dominions.
On Charlemagne's death in A.D. 814 this empire crumbled to
pieces through internal wars, and in the unsettled state of the
country, the German princes pushed themselves into prominence
by demanding the right to elect their own sovereign Conrad
the First, reigning as King of Germany at the beginning of the
tenth century. His successor, Otho, extending the boundary of
the German Empire southwards into Lombardy, was crowned
Emperor of the West at Rome, an event which shows the leading
position of the Prankish emperors at the period, and was not
without its influence on the architecture of these regions. The
political relations of the Hohenstaufen (or Swabian) Emperors
(A.D. 1138-1273) with Lombardy, is evidenced in the similarity
of the architecture of the two countries. The house of Hapsburg
succeeded the Hohenstaufen dynasty in 1273, when French Gothic
architecture was introduced, and henceforth copied.
2. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER.
The style bears a strong resemblance to North Italian
3. EXAMPLES.
Saxony and the Rhine valley are specially rich in Romanesque
examples, and few works of importance were erected elsewhere
till the Gothic period. Gernrode Abbey Church (958-1050),
and S. Godehard, HiMesKeim (1133), are of the basITican
type with triple eastern apses.
The Monastery of S. Gall (circa A.D. 820) in Switzerland
(page 276), of which a complete plan was found in the seventeenth
century, is an interesting and typical example of a German
Benedictine monastery of the period. It appears to have been
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105.
264 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE.
4. COMPARATIVE.
A. Plans. The naves and aisles are vaulted in square bays,
one vaulting bay of the nave being equal to two of the aisles, as
in the plan of Worms Cathedral (No. 105 G), arid the Church of
the Apostles, Cologne (No. 105 c).
The choir is always apsidal, and often raised, as in Lombardy,
to admit of cry_pts jbeneath. Western as well as eastern transepts
occur, contrasting in this respect with Italian examples, and over
the crossing a tower, sometimes octagonal (No. 106), is generally
found. Western apses are frequent (No. 105 G), as at Treves
and the Abbey Church at Laach, and apses also occur at the
ends of transepts, as in the Church of the Apostles at Cologne
(No. 105 c).
Numerous towers, either square, circular, or polygonal, pro-
ducing a rich and varied outline, were employed, two being usually
at the east end flanking the apse, and two at the west end, con-
nected by a gallery (Nos. 106 and 107 G). The towers rise in
successive stories,- and a characteristic finish consists of four
gables and a steep roof, a hip rafter rising from each gable top
(No. 107 G).
B. Walls. The blank walls are cut up by flat pilaster strips,
connected horizontally by ranges of small arches springing from
GERMAN ROMANESQUE ORNAMENT.
107.
266 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE.
corbels (Nos. 105 D and 107 E). Owing to the smallness of scale
this favourite feature may be considered as a string course or
cornice.
Open arcades, the origin of which have already been dealt
with (page 237), occur under the eaves of roofs, especially round
the apses (Nos. 104 and 106). The churches have sometimes a
triforium and always a clerestory.
c. Openings. No tendency towards tracery is found. The
windows are usually single, being rarely grouped (No. 106).
The doorways (Nos. 105 and 107 N) are placed at the side, rarely
in the west front or transept ends.
D. Roofs. In the Rhine district a central semicircular barrel
vault was supported by half-barrel vaults over the aisles, a system
which led by degrees to complete Gothic vaulting. Timber roofs
were also employed for large spans. Tower roofs, and spires of
curious form, are a special feature of the style. A gable on each
tower face, with high pitched intersecting roofs (No. 107 G), is
common, the latter being formed by the intersections of the planes
between the adjacent sides of adjoining gables forming a pyramid,
being a step in the evolution of spire growth.
E. Columns. The nave arcades were generally constructed of
square piers, with half columns attached, and the alternation of
piers and columns is a favourite German feature. The capitals
(No. 107 c, D, F, H), though bold in execution, are well designed,
being superior to the later Gothic examples.
F. Mouldings (see Walls). These are as a rule of indifferent
design, but the capitals and bases take a distinctive form, leading
from Roman through Romanesque to Gothic.
G. Ornament. Internally the flat plain surfaces were occa-
sionally decorated in fresco, and the traditions and examples of
the early Christian and Byzantine mosaic decorations, were
carried on in color. In the north colored bricks were used, and
were unsuitable for rich decoration, thus accounting for the
absence of sculptured foliage.
5. REFERENCE BOOKS.
"
Boisseree (S.). Denkmale der Baukunst am Nieder-Rhein." Folio.
Munich, 1844.
<;
Moller (G.). Denkmaeler der Deutschen Baukunst." Folio. Leipzig,
1852.
" "
Hardy (A. S.). Passe Rose (Historical Novel).
PIM01
13 CENTURY
108.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN
EUROPE.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 1
i. INFLUENCES.
i. Geographical. The nations of Western Europe had come
into existence. Germany was the centre of the Western Empire
and the Kingdoms of France, Italy and Spain were also becoming
strong united states. Russia, Sweden and Norway had little to
do with Western Europe. England had become thoroughly united
under the Norman Kings. The map (No. 108) gives the general
distribution of the various countries in the thirteenth century.
ii. Geological. Refer to each country.
iii. Climate. Refer to each country. It has been pointed
out that the sun, in Northern Europe, is more suitable for Gothic
than Classic Architecture, for it is a sun wheeling somewhat low on
an average round the sky, and shadows are better caught by out-
standing buttresses and the flying lateral members of a Gothic
1
Before treating of the development of the style peculiar to each country, a
general outline sketch is given.
268 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE.
2. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER.
The principles and character of Gothic architecture were' similar
throughout Western Europe, and are indicated on No. 109. The
fully-developed Gothic art of the thirteenth century was the style
which had been slowly developing itself throughout Europe as
a necessary sequence of Romanesque art, and is mainly recog-
nized because of the introduction and use in door and window
openings, arcades, vaulting and ornamentation of the pointed arch
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. 269
acted it. In the case of the nave vaults, the collected pressures of
the vaulting and roof were counteracted by arches, called flying
buttresses, leaning against the nave wall and supported at some
distance by massive piers, weighted with tall pinnacles (Nos.
109 A, 141 F, G, H, and 153 A). Walls became mere enclosures,
and the entire structure consisted of a framework of piers, but-
tresses, arches, and ribbed vaulting held in equilibrium by the
combination of oblique forces neutralizing each other (No. 141).
Even the .walls themselves were occupied principally by glazed
windows, divided by stone mullions, having their upper parts
designed with combinations of curves of great variety. No such
system of construction, it is evident, could have been developed
without the employment of such a material as stone, laid in
tolerably small courses with mortar joints, which gave the necessary
elasticity to the various pressures.
These principles led to the introduction of much novelty in
mouldings, capitals and piers, for the numerous vaulting
ribs
109.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. 271
architects to practise economy in their use, the characteristic
mouldings of the Mediaeval period exhibiting much less waste of
material than those common in Classic times.
In the Middle Ages it was the constructional features them-
selves to which an attractive form was given, and in this
particular, the architecture of this period stands in close relation
to Greek art.
The same principle of truth was upheld, but the form had
changed, and it was no longer the self-contained Greek temple, re-
poseful in the severity of horizontal lines, but a complex, restless
structure whose aspiring tendencies found expression in vertical
grouping, unity being obtained by the exact and necessary
correlation between all the parts.
Although many, if not most, of the architectural features were
founded primarily on structural necessity, yet others were the
expression of artistic invention and of aesthetic requirements.
Form, in the best types of architecture, is not the result of
caprice, but is only the expression of the structural necessities.
If the column is a real support and has an expanded capital it is
for the purpose of supporting a particular load ;
if the mouldings
and ornaments have particular developments it is because they
are necessary, and if the vaults are divided by ribs it is because
they are so many sinews performing a necessary function. The
spire was evolved from no utilitarian requirements, but was a
sign of the communal spirit and an indication of municipal
prosperity, of which it formed an outward and visible
expression.
The architecture was adapted to a structure of small stones
with thick mortar joints, and was a compromise between the
concrete walling and the jointed stones (without mortar)
of the Romans. The military organization, which had helped
to mould the Roman style, was wanting in the Gothic period,
stone having to be sought in various quarries from different
proprietors and transported by voluntary aid, or by workmen who
were forced labourers, doing as little as possible, and taken away,
ever and anon, to fight in their owners' battles. As to the
material at hand, the Gothic architects of Western Europe
possessed stone which was strong and hard, and could be split
into thin pieces, but had not at their disposal either the marble of
Pentelicus or the blocks of granite which the Romans procured
from Corsica, the Alps, and the East thus they were absolutely
;
3. EXAMPLES.
BUILDINGS ERECTED DURING THE
MIDDLE AGES.
CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES.
The construction of these buildings, many of which were
founded in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, was carried on from
generation to generation.
The place in the national life which the mediaeval cathedrals
occupied was an important one, and must be realized in order to
understand how they were regarded. Cathedrals were erected
and decorated partly as a means of popular education, and they
were the history books of the period, taking the place in the social
state since occupied, to a large extent, by such modern institutions
as the Board School, Free Library, Museum, Picture Gallery and
Concert Hall. The sculpture and the painted glass reflected the
incidents of Bible History from the creation to the redemption
of mankind, the sculptured forms and brilliant coloring being
easily understood by the people. The virtues and vices, with their
symbols, were there displayed, either in glass or statuary, along
with their reward or punishment saints and angels told of the
;
better life, and the various handicrafts, both of peace and war,
were mirrored in imperishable stone or colored glass.
Architecture then as now was also the grand chronicle of
secular history, past and present, in which Kings, Nobles and
Knights were represented.
The plans in all parts of Europe, as may be seen on referring
to those of England (Nos. 117, 118, 119, 120 and 127), France
(Nos. 155 and 159), Belgium (No. 167), Germany (Nos. 170
and 172),and Italy (Nos. 176 and 179), are generally in the form
of a Latin cross, the short arms, north and south, forming the
transepts. The cruciform ground plan is considered by some as
a development from the early Christian basilicas, such as Old
S. Peter, Rome (page 182), and by others, as evolved from the
cruciform buildings erected for sepulchral purposes as early as
the period of Constantine. A tower, sometimes crowned with a
spire, was generally erected over the crossing or at the west end.
\s a rule the nave is the portion to the westward, and the choir,
F.A. T
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. 275
MONASTERIES.
These were amongst the most important structures erected in
the middle ages, and were important factors in the development
of mediaeval architecture. They were erected by the various
religious orders already referred to (page 218).
The monks according to their several orders favoured different
pursuits. The Benedictine was the chronicler and most learned
of monks, and his dress was adopted by University students the ;
beside the church (a.) A Cloister Court, off which were placed
:
the Chapter House, with the Sacristy between it and the church,
and the dormitory adjoining the church, approached by a separate
staircase. The cellarage for beer, wine and oil, was often
placed under the dormitory. On the opposite side to the church
were the refectory (dining hall) and kitchens, thus placed to
keep away noise and smell. The lavatory was usually placed
in the south cloister walk as at Westminster, Wells, Chester,
Peterborough and Gloucester, (b.) An Inner Court, with infir-
mary, guest house, kitchen, servants' hall, library and scriptorium
(the writing and illuminating room for making copies of books).
(0.)
A Common Court, with double gateway for carts, surrounded
by granaries, bakehouses, stables, store rooms, servants' rooms,
tribunal, prison,abbot's lodging, and barn, (d} The Church
Court or Close, open to the public, (e.) Mills, workshops, gardens,
orchards, and fishponds.
Monasteries answered the purpose of inns in little frequented
places, as is the case to this day on the continent.
SECULAR ARCHITECTURE.
Examples of secular work, such as castles and residences of the
nobles, the dwellings of the people, hospitals, and other civil and
domestic work are referred to under each country.
4. COMPARATIVE.
The comparative analysis of each country is given separately,
and a comparative table of the underlying differences between
the Gothic and Renaissance styles is given on page 442.
5. REFERENCE BOOKS.
Lists are given with each country.