CHAPTER VI

ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE

The term Romanesque is given to the period between the beginning of the 9th and the middle of the 12th century, but there was no real break in the continuity of the evolution of Christian architecture in Europe from the time when that art first freed itself from Pagan influence till it reached its noblest development in the Gothic style.

From first to last the keynote of structure was the use of the arch for vaulting and for the spanning of piers and columns, and its form is, as a general rule, indicative of the phase of development to which it belongs. Although, however, it may be said that the semicircular arch is characteristic of Romanesque buildings, the lintel is occasionally used simultaneously with it in interiors, and the chief entrances are in many cases spanned by horizontal beams or courses of stone that are, however, as a general rule surmounted by arches. Moreover in late Romanesque work the pointed arch is now and then introduced shadowing forth the approaching change.

It was not in the invention of new forms of vaulting but in the adaptation and improvement of those already in existence that Romanesque architects chiefly displayed their skill. The earliest Romanesque vaults were simple intersecting arches similar to those which had long been in use, but as time went on these were superseded by what is known as ribbed vaulting; that is to say by roofs divided into bays by a framework of diagonal ribs supporting fillings in of thin stone called severes, which in their turn gradually developed into the complex and ornate system of Gothic vaulting. To counteract the thrust of arched and ribbed vaulting the device of buttresses was hit upon. These buttresses consisted at first of a series of supports introduced beneath the roof of the aisles and extending from the back of the nave to the aisle wall, which were later supplemented by the external buttresses known as flying, that were to be so distinctive a feature of Gothic architecture.

Other characteristics of Romanesque architecture are the slenderness of the columns as compared with those of earlier buildings, the disuse of classic capitals, and the substitution for them of what is known as the basket form, that is to say, semicircular mouldings enclosing floral designs, later replaced by a great variety of forms, such as flowers, leaves, human and animals' heads. The grouping of columns in clusters also came into use, the general tendency being towards the production of an effect of grace and lightness rather than of strength and solidity. Arched cornices were introduced to relieve the monotony of the walls above the pillars of the nave, whilst an even more marked change took place in the windows, which, though small and few in early Renaissance buildings, gradually increased in number, in size, and in the beauty of their tracery. At the eastern end of churches several windows were in some cases grouped together, divided only by slender pilasters, and above the western entrance large circular windows known as the rose or wheel--according to certain peculiarities of their tracery--were introduced, whilst the walls were pierced by rows of complex windows, each with a number of different lights.

In Romanesque churches the beautiful colonnaded narthex of the early Christian basilica is replaced in Northern and occasionally in Southern Italy by a projecting, and elsewhere by a simple, porch; but to make up for the loss of what was a very effective feature, the whole of the western facade, including the recessed doorway giving access to the nave, is generally most richly decorated with sculpture and carving, figures in niches, grotesque animal forms of symbolic meaning, with floral and geometrical designs of great variety and beauty adorning every portion.

On either side of the west front of many Romanesque buildings, more rarely also from the point of junction of the transepts and nave, rise lofty square or octagonal towers, the earlier with flat, the later with more or less steeply pitched roofs, that gradually developed into the tapering spires so characteristic of the Gothic style. Occasionally the eastern apse is flanked by a turret or small tower, and in some cases, chiefly in Italy, a detached and lofty tower known as a Campanile or Bell Tower--though it only rarely contains bells, being sometimes merely a secular monument--rises close to the church or at a little distance from it, but connected with it by a cloister.

In S. Ambrogio, Milan, begun in the 9th and completed in the 12th century, the gradual change from the early Christian to the Romanesque style as developed in Italy can be studied. It has a nave of basilican type, a narthex surmounted by a gallery, a pediment-like gable at the western end, an octagonal cupola roofing over the eastern apse, with a circle of windows flooding the choir with light, a triforium or arcaded storey above the aisles, and most characteristic of all, an open external arcaded gallery, admitting air and light beneath the roof of the apse, such as was to become so effective a decorative feature of later buildings, and in some cases to be extended along the aisles and above the chief entrance.

S. Michele, Pavia, is a typical and very beautiful example of the Romanesque style of the twelfth century, specially noteworthy features being its cruciform plan, its two-storied aisles, and its external gallery with clustered pilasters; and the contemporary S. Zeno, Verona, though it has no triforium and is not vaulted, has noble clustered piers from which sprang arches--only one of which remains--spanning the nave, alternating with single columns.

Other fine Romanesque buildings in Italy are the Cathedral of Verona, which has a fine two-storied porch; the Cathedral of Novara, specially noteworthy for its beautiful atrium; S. Miniato, Florence, that is of basilican plan, and, though it is without transepts, has the distinctive Romanesque feature of transverse arches upheld by clustered piers spanning the nave and aisles; S. Antonio, Piacenza, with transepts at the western instead of the eastern end, fine intersecting vaults roofing in the whole building, and a tower rising from the junction of the nave and transepts; and the Cathedral of Pisa, the last a complex building with vaulted aisles, a dome above the intersection of the transepts and nave, a flat roof over the latter, and a lofty triforium gallery running round the entire church, the general effect being most pleasing and harmonious. Close to the cathedral are the 12th century circular Baptistery, that has considerably later additions, and the famous Leaning Tower, the three buildings forming one of the finest architectural groups in the world.

Certain very marked characteristics distinguish the buildings of Sicily from those of contemporary date on the mainland of Italy, the Romanesque style, as is very clearly seen in the Cathedral of Monreale, having been there considerably modified alike by Saracenic and Norman influences. The pointed arch was adopted long before it came into use elsewhere in Europe, having been, it is suggested, a modification of the horse-shoe form so characteristic of Moorish mosques.

In France, Romanesque ecclesiastical architecture followed, in the main, the same lines as in Italy, with, in many cases, one notable addition, that of the chevet, a circlet of chapels round the eastern apse, which gradually grew out of what was known as an ambulatory, that is to say, a space in which perambulation was possible, obtained by the extension of the aisles behind the choir. In early examples of the ambulatory the circle was continuous, as in the church of S. Saturnin, Auvergne, but as time went on, small semicircular chapels were introduced, with windows between them, that gradually developed into the chevet, the chapels increasing in number and in size, and in some cases extending westwards along the aisles.

The churches and cathedrals of Southern France differ in several respects from those of the North, the aisleless basilica plan with barrel, intersecting, or domed vaulting being of frequent occurrence in the former, whilst in the latter the beautiful arcaded aisles and steeply pitched roof presage the approach of the Gothic style with its pointed arches, groined roofs, flying buttresses, and tapering pinnacles.

The five-domed S. Front in Perigueux, though it has rudimentary aisles only, is a good example of an early French Romanesque building, in which Oriental influence is very perceptible, it being in some of its features a copy of S. Marco, Venice, whilst in the later Cathedral of Angouleme of cruciform plan with apsidal chapels, that of Le Puy with a triple entrance porch, the church of S. Hilaire, Poitiers, with its irregular domes, the uncompleted S. Ours, Loche, with its pyramidal octagonal spires, S. Saturnin, Toulouse, with its central many-storied tapering tower, the 12th century churches of Vezelay and Avallon; the cathedral and church of La Trinite at Angers, both combining pointed arches with domed vaulting, the gradual development of the southern branch of French Romanesque architecture can be very clearly studied.

In many of the noble churches and cathedrals of Northern France and elsewhere the Romanesque may justly be said to have melted into the Gothic style, some of them combining as they do the most beautiful features of both. To the cost of their erection ecclesiastics and laymen alike contributed with eager zeal, and amongst the architects and craftsmen employed on them, class and professional rivalry were merged in one common enthusiasm to promote the glory of God, all desire for individual distinction being merged in an unselfish ambition to aid in producing a building worthy of His worship.

In Normandy was inaugurated the phase of Romanesque architecture which was to develop on such noble lines in England, the chief distinctions of which are the massiveness of the walls and pillars, the great length of the nave, the richness of the decoration alike of the shafts and capitals of the columns and of the round-headed arches they uphold. Very notable examples are the Abbaye aux Hommes, the Abbaye aux Dames, and the Church of S. Nicholas, all at Caen, the first with circular arched vaulting and western towers ending in spires, the second with a Gothic roof of intersecting pointed arches, the third with three apses, each with a steeply pitched roof, a porch with three arcades at the western end, and a low gabled tower rising from the point of intersection of the nave and transepts, the three buildings illustrating well the transition from the simple basilica to the complex Gothic structure. With them may be named the Abbey of Jumieges, of which unfortunately but a few relics remain, which had beautiful clustered piers alternating with single columns upholding semicircular lateral arches, a flat roofed nave, and vaulted aisles.

Other fine Romanesque churches of Northern France, all of which differ somewhat in general appearance from those of Normandy, are the Cathedrals of Noyon and Soissons, the church of S. Pierre at Lisieux, all of which combine pointed with semicircular arches, and above all the Cathedral of Le Mans, which has a very characteristic Romanesque nave flanked by round-headed arches and roofed over with an equally characteristic groined Gothic vault, whilst the choir, added in the early 13th century, is encircled by a beautiful chevet, the exterior of which with its many buttresses and pinnacles presents a most impressive appearance.

One of the finest Romanesque buildings in Europe is the Cathedral of Tournai, Belgium, which has a flat-roofed nave of exceptional length, picturesque lateral storied galleries, a central tower with a lofty spire, and two supplementary towers, also with spires, flanking the northern and southern apses. Elsewhere in Belgium are several flat-roofed churches of basilican plan, some with ambulatories in the French style but no apsidal chapels. In Spain, on the other hand, the chevet is rarely absent from ecclesiastical buildings, whilst a distinctive local feature is a low central dome or tower known as the cimborio, which is in many cases scarcely more than a swelling of the roof at the point of intersection of nave and transept.

Germany is especially rich in Romanesque churches, which, like those of Belgium, are of basilican plan with flat roofs. In the Cathedral of Trier can be studied the gradual growth of the Teutonic form of the Romanesque style, for it was originally an early Christian Church of the Roman type, which was converted into one of a more distinctive style in the 11th century by additions, including a western apse, whilst the noble vaulting of the nave dates from the 12th and the choir from the 13th century. As time went on the multiplication of apses became characteristic of German churches, it being usual to add one at the western end, and more rarely also on the northern and southern sides, the beautiful tapering columns dividing them from the aisles, with the small chapels beyond them, producing very fine effects of perspective. Other peculiarities of German Romanesque buildings are their great height and the noble proportions of the interiors, with the finely balanced grouping of the cupolas, towers, and turrets of the exterior; to which must be added the absence of the great Western doorway that lends such distinction to French, Italian, and Belgian churches.

Very fine examples of the style in Germany are the churches of S. Maria in Capitolo Cologne, S. Quirin in Neuss, and the cathedrals of Nuremberg and Bamberg, but it was in those of Speier, Mainz, and Worms that it achieved its greatest triumphs. The first, it is true, has no western apse, but this is atoned for by a fine narthex, and in the other two the western extension is as conspicuous as the eastern. Dignified simplicity and sense of space are the chief characteristics of all three buildings, massive columns upholding the arcading flanking the naves, whilst the walls of the aisles are unbroken by triforia, the piers at Speier and Worms being carried right up to the clerestory windows, whilst at Mainz two arches are placed one above the other, the vaulting of the nave springing from the upper tier.