Part 8

In St. Front and kindred structures we have seen the problem solved in one way by the introduction of Byzantine domes; but these churches were confined to a province of Southern France, and had but little influence in other districts. In St. Etienne de Nevers, St. Sernin de Toulouse, and in Notre Dame du Port at Clermont in Auvergne, and others, this difficulty is partially overcome by the building of a half vault over the upper galleries connecting the tunnel-vault of the nave with the outer main walls, and taking the strain continuously, the thickness of the outer wall not being considered of consequence. This system permitted the placing of roofing-tiles directly upon the extrados of the vaults, and the entire suppression of wooden rafters, which was advantageous in diminishing the risk of fire, although the pitch was scarcely sufficient to prevent leakage. The great disadvantage, however, was that the nave had only borrowed light, and in large churches it was inconveniently dark.

Another method adopted was that of suppressing the upper gallery, and bringing the arches of the aisles up to the level of the springing of the main vault, so that the summits of the side vaults and the walls erected between them, which were at right angles to the nave, served to counteract the strain of the upper vault. We have examples of this in the cathedral of Limoges and at Fontenay, but it is open to the same objection, that of darkening the nave.

Still another system consisted in binding the vault over the nave by ribs or arches thrown across to opposite piers, which were strengthened by buttresses. These buttresses, however, were built upon the top of the arches, thrown across the aisles, and did more harm than good.

There is an example of unusual construction at Tournus, in Burgundy, where the difficulty is effectually surmounted by the building of a number of arches at right angles to the axis of the nave, between each set of piers; but the effect is far from satisfactory.

Finally at Vezelay, in France, the tunnel-vault was abandoned and diagonal intersecting vaults were thrown across the nave, framed in between semicircular arch ribs carried upon piers spaced at equal intervals, the weight being thus wholly transferred to the four points at the angles of each compartment. It was found, however, that these piers needed strengthening, as the strain upon them was excessive, and it was thus that external buttresses were resorted to, which were connected with the piers by arches, called flying buttresses, bridging the side aisles and conveying the pressure to the outer wall. A weight was placed over each buttress, generally taking the form of a pinnacle, which stiffened it and counteracted the pressure of the arch.

An illustration of this mode of construction has been attempted in the accompanying drawing, which does not represent any special building, but in which the chief characteristics of the style at this juncture have been introduced.

The distance across the nave being usually greater than that between the columns dividing it from the aisles, the rectangular compartments of the vault were consequently no longer square, but oblong, so that while the arches crossing the nave at right angles were still semicircular those between the pillars were pointed.

The transition from this, in the thirteenth century, to the definite adoption of the pointed vault was consequently but a step.

We see, thus, that a continual progress was made in vaulting throughout the style, and the principle of concentrating weight upon isolated points was evolved in order to vault the nave and at the same time give direct light to it. In effecting this result, however, the original aim had been lost sight of—namely, that of avoiding the use of wooden roofs; for when the Romanesque architects abandoned tunnel-vaulting they had to surmount their more complicated intersecting vaults by wooden roofs, the perishable nature of which caused the ruin of many of the finest buildings. Nor was the external appearance of these roofs any improvement upon those of St. Etienne and St. Sernin, for it is a question whether any more monumental roof has been conceived than that which is formed by the natural outside surface of stone vaults.

In the old basilicas, columns taken from or modelled upon those of the temples and palaces of Rome had sufficed to support the light brick wall, carried upon an architrave or arches, which enclosed the nave. When the Western architects resumed the building of churches, after an interval of war and trouble which had proved fatal to architectural progress, brick was little used and the formation of light masonry and good mortar were lost arts. The slender Classic column was consequently insufficient to carry the load of a heavy stone wall and had, necessarily, to be replaced by a more solid pier.

These piers assumed various forms in the tentative efforts made to construct them of the dimensions calculated to occupy the least amount of floor space; some were square, others circular or formed of a number of small columns grouped together, but for a long time no very satisfactory shape was found which avoided a clumsy adjustment of the superstructure.

It came to be gradually recognized that the form of the pier should be subservient to, and made to correspond with, the arches and the column receiving the arch rib of the vault above, which it had to sustain. This was effected at first by a square pier, with rectangular projections on each side, forming abutments for the reception of the constructional arrangement above. Subsequently these were replaced by pilasters and engaged columns on each face, three of which supported the rear and side arches of the nave, the fourth being continued up to the springing of the vault, and redeemed from exaggerated effect by bands or string-courses. There are good examples in France at Vezelay, Beaune and Langres and Autun. In England the contemporary architects usually employed square or circular masses of solid masonry, carrying a heavy abacus, these pillars being sometimes ornamented with a fluting, as in the crypt at Canterbury, or with zigzag patterns, as at Waltham Abbey, Durham, and Lindisfarne.

The capitals of Romanesque columns are especially interesting, for they became constructively useful instead of simply ornamental, as were those used in the Roman orders. The section of the arch rib being square and the column round, it was necessary to afford support to the overlapping corners, the whole surface of the projecting tile or abacus being occupied by the upper masonry, instead of the line of the shaft being continued up, as had been done in Rome. The capital was therefore made to spread outward from the shaft in order to corbel the superstructure.

A simple form of this is found in many German, Italian, and English examples, the upper part of the capital being a cube and the lower a hemisphere. The early examples generally imitate those of the Corinthian order in a rude fashion corresponding with the poverty of talent of the period. The capitals of the twelfth century are better carved and better suited to the services they have to perform. Figures representing biblical subjects are introduced in some and in others strange animals and conventional foliage, sometimes arranged as the acanthus leaf had been in the Roman models. The proportions of the Classic column were also departed from, the capital often being a quarter or a sixth of the whole column; its height being regulated by the size of the beds of stone, which were generally low. In Germany, however, the older proportions were more closely adhered to. The quality of the stone determined in a great measure the depth of the carving, the harder kinds having less depth of incision and the style of ornament applied to them resembling the Byzantine.

In France the Romanesque column has usually a third of the diameter of its shaft engaged in a pier or wall, though isolated ones are used in the triforiums, towers, and porches; in England the latter are common, and recessed columns, that is to say, placed in an angle of masonry, are also frequently seen.

The bases of Romanesque columns, at first simple round and hollow moulds, gradually became more elaborate, until they resembled the attic base. Occasionally they were decorated with foliage or animals, and there are instances where both capital and base are similar. The introduction of an angle ornament, connecting the torus or round mould with the corners of the plinth beneath, is especially noticeable; this was effective in preventing the angles from being broken by thickening the stone at the weakest points, and in later examples added to the beauty of the base.

The arches of the period were usually semicircular and employed either separately or with a second and broader one, their contour being frequently marked by a few simple mouldings of degenerate classic origin.

Two or three arches supported by detached columns, and comprised within a larger one, were frequently placed in the triforiums; when three were used the central one was usually higher than the others. Besides mouldings: billets, zigzags, stars, and similar simple ornaments were employed in their decoration. Where Arabic taste exercised its influence, it is not uncommon to find alternate voussoirs of different-coloured stones, and variegated bands in the piers.

The Italians were especially fond of this treatment and it is seen in the exteriors and interiors of many of their buildings. To them is also due the introduction of blind arcades, the columns of which were either engaged in the wall or separated from it by an intervening gallery. The façade of the cathedral at Pisa is perhaps the most beautiful example of this.

In the West, arcades of this kind became a frequent method of decorating blank walls, and there are instances where a second series of arches intersect the first, resulting in a number of pointed arches formed by the crossing of the circular ones; from this an ingenious but unfounded theory has been deducted purporting to explain the origin of Gothic architecture.

The doors and porches of the Romanesque period are among the most beautiful to be found in any style. Starting in the earlier examples with a simple, round-arched opening, the number of mouldings in the arch became richer and of greater number, and, as the style advanced, recessed and supported by columns. These mouldings were decorated with the zigzag, billet, and kindred ornaments, many of which were probably copied from the decoration of the old basilica of St. Paul’s without the walls of Rome.

As the jambs of the doorways were generally built on an angle, the contiguous shafts and arches sometimes gave the effect of an arched passage in perspective. Such effects were frequently intentional in the churches in Southern France, for we find that the walls of the nave and vault of Notre Dame de Poitiers, and of other buildings, were purposely made to converge in order to give the appearance of greater length.

It was not uncommon to give the doors square heads, supported by corbels and occasionally by a central shaft; in these cases the arch above relieved the lintel from the weight of the superstructure, and gave the character of the style to the whole. The tympanum, thus enclosed, offered a ground for rich sculpture, which was availed of to the fullest extent. The outer door of a porch was usually richer in design than the inner one; in England there are many examples of shallow porches with single deeply recessed doors. In Provence there are many beautiful examples, foremost amongst which must be mentioned the porch of St. Trophyme, at Arles (see frontispiece). Romanesque windows were but modifications of the doors; often having recessed shafts at their sides and being frequently divided by a central column.

The bull’s-eye, or round window, of the early Christian basilicas continued to be used, but it had not as yet the richness of tracery which it attained in the Gothic period.

Classical features of design still retained their hold upon many details, notably in the cornices, where the modillions or brackets of the Corinthian order were frequently employed, and but slightly altered in form, although of native composition. The corona of the cornice also differed but little from the Roman models, and was occasionally supported directly by engaged columns replacing buttresses, chiefly on the exterior of apsidal chapels.

In the early Christian churches the apse had consisted of a central semicircular termination to the building, flanked occasionally by two smaller semicircular recesses containing altars. In the baptisteries and Byzantine churches these had been multiplied, and had come to be customary features in every new building. In England, the Norman architects generally ended their churches rectangularly, without even the original single apse, though there are a few examples in which it is used, as at Newhaven, Sussex. In Germany it was frequently the custom to affix apses to three sides of the square tower placed at the intersection of the nave and transept, and the result was generally satisfactory, as may be seen in St. Martin’s of Cologne, and in the Apostles’ Church in the same city.

In France the plan resolved itself into an open semicircular colonnade with a passage intervening between it and the outer wall which followed the outline of a series of small apses. These formed an harmonious cluster, and became a type which was matured in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Those belonging to the Romanesque period, however, had a distinct and constructively excellent character which has rarely been subsequently surpassed. Among the best are those of Notre Dame du Port at Clermont, St. Etienne de Nevers, and St. Sernin at Toulouse.

In France towers were generally placed at the West end of the church, while in England and Germany the usual way was to build them at the junction of the nave and transept; in Italy they were often detached from the main structure. They were characterized by simple solidity; the openings being few and the detail bold; the angles were strengthened by stout piers; the roofs were either of timber or stone, according to the nature of the materials in the localities in which they were erected, and they were usually lighted by the round-arched double window. This round arch, ornamented with a few simple mouldings and reposing upon short sturdy columns, forms a constantly recurring feature in the composition of the several parts of Romanesque buildings.

The corridors which surrounded the square courtyards adjoining churches, and connected them with the dormitories, refectories, and other apartments of the clergy, are called cloisters. They differed but little from the Roman “impluvium” and the “atrium” of the basilica, the changes consisting chiefly in the addition of raised sills separating them from the court, and in their being usually vaulted instead of carrying timber roofs. The series of arcades forming them were treated in many ways, and the detail admitted of much elaboration and variety, as may be seen in the many remarkable examples throughout Europe. The cloisters of St. Paul’s, at Rome, and the atrium of St. Ambrogio, at Milan, form very interesting historical links between the Roman and Romanesque styles and are very beautiful specimens of their kind.

It had been the custom during the struggling period of the early Church to bury the bodies of saints in subterranean chambers called crypts, a word derived from the Greek verb “to hide”; subsequently these became component parts of all churches, serving as places of interment and for the occasional celebration of masses. Their masonry was necessarily of the massive character required for the foundation of the piers of the church above, consisting generally in a grouping of columns sustaining a heavy vault.

The crypt of St. Eutrope, at Saintes in France, may be mentioned as one of the best examples, the pillars being richly carved, and the ribs of the vault of great boldness and strength.

In Germany the crypt is often raised sufficiently above the level of the ground to obtain light from windows, as at Spires, and this is sometimes carried to such an extreme that the church becomes double, that is, of two stories, as at Schwartz Rheindorf.

In England, Canterbury Cathedral possesses perhaps the best example, the crypt being very large and its details varied. Some of the capitals of the columns remain half finished, the work upon them having been arrested by a conflagration in the twelfth century.

X.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.

Briefly recapitulating the preceding chapters: We have seen that the Greek temple, composed of a cella, or oblong room, surrounded by a colonnade, was copied by the Romans with but few alterations, the only one of importance being the addition of a semicircular recess to the rear wall. The columns of the colonnade having been transposed from the outside to the interior, dividing the room in three parts, longitudinally; a cross wall having been introduced dividing it transversely, and the apse retained, the building became a basilica. By extending the transept and nave the plan became cruciform and symbolically the most suitable for that of a Christian church.

The Western architects, desiring to replace the wooden roofs by stone vaults, found it convenient to substitute for columns carrying arches, piers with engaged shafts connecting directly with the superstructure.

After various attempts to obtain direct light for the central division or nave, rendered difficult by the necessity of counteracting the continuous thrust of the barrel vault thrown across it, this vault was finally abandoned and replaced by intersecting vaults, which conveyed the thrust diagonally upon equidistant piers. To avoid increasing the size of the latter to an inconvenient extent, an expedient was resorted to which consisted in propping them from the exterior by flying buttresses thrown from them to outside piers across the roof of the aisles. The result of the width of the nave being usually greater than the distance between piers was that, while the diagonal ribs of the vault remained semicircular, their lateral intersection produced pointed arches.

This form of construction was developed during the middle and latter half of the twelfth century. The pointed arch had been used occasionally before by the Romanesque architects; it had been used frequently by the Arabs, as far back as the eighth century, and had been known and employed long before the Christian era in the sewers of Babylon. It was, therefore, not a new invention, but a known method adopted in a fresh departure in constructive architecture; for the circular arches being abandoned and definitely replaced by the pointed arch the succeeding architecture became pointed or Gothic.

This is the condensed history of the derivation of the style as generally accepted at the present day, though the subject has given rise to much controversy.

The concentration of the weight of the vault upon the piers, instead of upon a continuous wall, was more or less the key to the whole scheme of Gothic construction; for the main principle remained the same throughout its many and varied examples. The idea was improved upon gradually and finally pushed to exaggeration; the decoration of the component parts of a building increased as the style advanced and they were reduced to just the sizes needed for stability, but their construction remained almost unaltered throughout.

We have followed the steps by which the form given to Christian churches emanated from the early basilicas; this form of building, that is, its plan and divisions into nave, aisles, transept, choir, apse, etc., had become traditional and was generally accepted in all the best examples.

The problem of accommodating large assemblies in the manner best suited to enable them to concentrate their sight and hearing upon a given point has been solved in various ways, perhaps most successfully in our modern opera-houses, but this problem was not one with which the Gothic architects endeavoured to grapple; their attention was devoted to the improvement and embellishment of the typical plan of structure, which custom and dogma had prescribed as the most suitable and in accordance with the needs of the liturgy. The plan was more or less elastic, and differed without material distinction in the different countries of Western Europe. These differences are easily noted by comparing the appended plans; the one, that of Rheims Cathedral, showing perhaps the most perfect arrangement of any in France, and the other, that of a typical English cathedral. The latter does not represent any particular structure, but is a composition including all the usual divisions and connecting buildings, taken from an old copy of Rickman.

_a_, _a_, Towers at West end. _b_, _b_, Porches. _c_, The nave. _d_, _d_, Side aisles of the nave. _e_, The cloisters. _f_, Library. _g_, North transept. _h_, South transept. _i_, _i_, Side aisles of South transept. _k_, _k_, _k_, Chapels. _l_, Chapter house with passage from the cloisters. _m_, Central tower, cross or lantern. _n_, Screen, over which the organ is usually placed. _o_, Choir, at the east end of which the altar is usually placed. _p_, _p_, Side aisles of the choir. _q_, Lady chapel.

In the thirteenth century the style was formed in all its purity; it was characterized by great simplicity and beauty, and in these respects was never surpassed. The arch had few mouldings, and these clearly defined and graceful; the shafts of columns were of slender and charming proportions, and the foliage employed for the decoration of their capitals, while conventional, departed entirely from the acanthus leaves of Classic origin, and assumed forms suggested by Western plants. Piers were reduced to the precise dimensions needful, and were formed of slender shafts, grouped together, which received the arch mouldings on either side, and rose in the front and rear to the height necessary to take the springing of the vault. In practice, the thrust of the vault was found not to be transmitted directly to a point to be received by an arch, but to two points above and below this theoretical one, which necessitated the employment of two flying buttresses, the one above the other. In Chartres Cathedral these are connected by radiating columns, and there are many examples where the intervening space is occupied by an open arcade. The French generally built their vertical buttresses very massively, but in England the pinnacle was more frequently used to counteract the thrust of the arch. For this purpose it was eminently appropriate, and might be considered ornamental, but the placing of pinnacles upon the corners of the towers and elsewhere where they served no end, which was often done, was always a mistake; and a defect which mars the effect of many beautiful English buildings.