Part 9

Amongst those who raised their voices most strenuously in this behalf, was the great St Bernard, who even went the length of separating from the Clunisians, and devoted his energy to the encouragement of the new order of the Cistertians, which was destined to play an important part in the future history of the Church and its architecture. Of the severe rules of this order, those relating to the erection of buildings, were amongst the most stringent. These were required to be of the simplest form, and to be entirely free from ornament and decoration of every kind. At first this maxim was strictly adhered to in all the buildings of the Cistertians, which are therefore of the baldest possible description, as the numerous examples hereafter illustrated in Provence and elsewhere show. But this very severity of style seems to have had great influence in clearing the way for the introduction of a new and more natural art, by sweeping away the last remains of the ancient traditional forms, and leaving the course clear for the invention of novel ornamentation derived from natural objects. This may be regarded as the second phase of Provençal art. The first comprised all those primitive structures, the style of which was founded on Roman or classic design. But this second phase discarded all such ornament, and retained only the structural elements which had up to this time been developed. These of course included the use of the pointed arch, which is always employed in the vaulting and all the important structural features, while the round form is frequently retained in the minor arches. Of this bare but vigorous style no finer example can be cited than the Abbey of Thoronet (to be afterwards described), but the whole country abounds (as we shall find) with examples, both large and small, of this reformed or second period of Provençal architecture. After a time the Cistertian strictness was gradually relaxed. The more ornate style of the Clunisians was found to be more in accordance with the feelings and taste of the times; and the Cistertians ultimately came to vie with them in the beauty and richness of their edifices. But, as above pointed out, the traditional Roman and Byzantine elements were entirely banished, and a new and natural system of ornament adopted.

Up to the date which we have now reached the progress of the great monastic centres of Burgundy and the cities of the South had been in advance of that of the Royal Domain, and the Northern provinces generally. But from the end of the twelfth century many circumstances combined to reverse that position. The country of the Franks had become settled--the restless spirit of that people, which had found expression in the Crusades, had exhausted itself; the idea of the one great and holy Roman Empire had passed away, and the various countries of modern Europe were gradually consolidating themselves and forming separate nationalities.

The Feudal system, which tended to break up all general authority, was gradually being subjected to the growing power of a central supreme ruler. Trade and commerce were reviving. The towns and corporations which had grown up under the fostering care of the monasteries, or under the shadow of the great castles of the nobility, were now assuming a more prominent and independent position. They perseveringly pressed their claims on their superiors, whether lay or ecclesiastical, and were by slow degrees obtaining charters and liberties. The Bishops whose sees were connected with the towns encouraged the citizens in this course, with the view of strengthening their own power and importance, so as to enable them to keep pace with and if possible overcome the great influence of their rivals the monasteries. This growth of the popular element in the towns naturally led to the employment of laymen in connection with the designing and execution of the works of the cathedral and other ecclesiastical edifices attached to the various sees.

The monks, who had hitherto been the sole possessors of the requisite knowledge and practical skill, had by their schools, and by the guilds of tradesmen which they had encouraged, sown the seeds which were now springing up in a form they had not looked for, and producing a crop of lay artists, who were soon to leave their old masters behind. The monastic system of carrying on everything according to rule had long held architecture in bondage. Under the new impulse all conventional rules were abandoned, and the artists trusted to the inspiration of nature for their guidance. Hence it followed that whether in planning, in construction, or in ormamentation, the forms so long reverently followed by the architects of the monasteries, were speedily dropped by the lay artists of the towns, and a new art sprung up with the most marvellous rapidity. To the new school of artists nothing which would naturally and logically suit their requirements came amiss. The round arch was the traditional form of the ecclesiastics, but, the lay architects of the North finding (as the builders of the South had long previously done) that the pointed arch was more flexible and amenable to their requirements, forthwith adopted it. This enabled them to overcome what had hitherto been the great difficulty with the round arch, viz., to erect intersecting vaults over spaces of any form, whether square or oblong, and at the same time to keep the apex of all the vaults at any desired height. The transverse arches and the wall arches being thus pointed, soon led in the most natural manner to the window arches within the latter being also made of a pointed shape, so as to conform to the outline of the wall arch, and by an easy transition the pointed arch was soon adopted for all the wall openings as the most flexible, and most in accordance with the spirit of the new style.

In like manner the old conventional forms of decoration, derived from Byzantine carvings and MSS. or from Roman remains, were entirely abandoned, and inspiration in decorative design was sought in the natural flowers and plants of the soil.

The intellectual development, no less than the artistic, of this great period of revival was boldly represented in its architecture. The timid forms of traditional construction were soon left behind, and scientific methods were introduced. The clumsy mode of sustaining the central vault by the half vault of the side aisles was superseded by the bold and beautiful form of the flying buttress, loaded with pinnacles where needed to secure stability. This scientific invention enabled the architects to dispense with heavy walls and to bring the whole pressure of the vaults on to points, where they were discharged by the flying buttresses. The side walls were only required as enclosing screens, not as supports, so that there was free scope and every inducement for the expansion of the windows, which rapidly progressed till the whole building became, in striking contrast to the dark and gloomy structures of the monastic regime, an edifice of marvellous lightness and elegance, illuminated from floor to vault with walls of glowing glass.

The rapid and extensive development of the Gothic style of the North is one of the most remarkable facts in the history of architecture. Within the century following the first appearance of the style in the pointed vaulting of the abbey church of St Denis, erected under the Abbé Suger in 1144, this style reached its highest point. During that period it found expression in most of the great cathedrals of the North of France, such as Paris, Chartres, Sens, Amiens, Beauvais, &c. This occurred contemporaneously with the long and brilliant reign of Philip Augustus, under whom the royal power became consolidated, and the royal domain extended to an extraordinary degree.

As the royal domain extended, its Gothic architecture extended with it, and even passed beyond it, and produced a striking effect on the provinces, such as Provence, not yet absorbed into the kingdom of France. Of this we shall meet with several remarkable examples, as in the cathedrals of Carcassonne and Narbonne, where the designs are pure Northern Gothic, and were furnished by a northern architect. But these and similar structures always strike one as having the appearance of exotics; they are evidently imported plants, not native to the soil. There are also, as we shall see, many other buildings in the South in which some of the features only of the Gothic style are adopted, and which exhibit various attempts to ingraft its details on the native art. But even this is not successful, the buildings having neither the lightness and elegance of the Gothic, nor the massive grandeur of the native style.

In later times, when Provence and a great part of the Riviera had passed into the kingdom of France, its period of vigour and independence had faded away, and its architecture only presents a picture of the various foreign influences under which it lay. This is seen in the examples of the flamboyant work of the French, and in the Italian Gothic introduced by the Genoese, who were long masters of the Riviera. All other architecture, however, soon yielded to the revival of the classic style, which here, amongst so many Roman relics, found a congenial soil.

The great development of Gothic architecture in the North was not limited to churches and other ecclesiastical structures, but extended to every species of building. For it is one of the leading characteristics of Gothic, that it is available for every variety of architectural requirement. It is a free and natural style, not subject to the arbitrary rules of monastic or academic systems, but ready to apply itself in the simplest and most direct manner to all human wants in the way of building. The Gothic lay architects therefore naturally directed their skill to the proper development of Domestic and Castellated Architecture, as well as Ecclesiastical and Monastic. Of the former, many most interesting examples are to be seen in the Southern towns; and of the castellated architecture, we shall meet with not only such splendid examples as the Pope’s Palace at Avignon, and the great castles of Villeneuve and Beaucaire; but we shall also have an opportunity of examining, at Carcassonne and Aigues Mortes, the towns which possess probably the completest and best preserved specimens, now extant, of the military architecture of the Middle Ages.

That kind of architecture was, as was natural, especially in the South, to a considerable extent founded on that of the Romans. This will be more fully explained and illustrated, when we come to treat of the fortifications of Carcassonne, which are partly Roman or of Roman foundation. In the North the early fortresses consisted of earthen mounds, protected by palisades and ditches. Such were the defences of the native Gauls, which Cæsar found so boldly defended. To these succeeded the strong towers of masonry, of which the Norman keep is the well known type. Stone-built towers of that description gradually superseded the wooden fort set upon the top of an earthen “motte” or mound which formed the central stronghold of the earlier fortresses. Masonry then, step by step, took the place of wood in the defences; first, as we have seen, in the keep, and then in the enclosing walls. As the science of attack improved, the latter were made stronger, and were further fortified by the construction in connection with them of numerous strong towers. These were generally round in the North and square in the South. The means of active defence were chiefly from the parapet. At first the parapets of the walls and towers were armed in time of war with wooden enclosures, called “hoards” or “brétêches,” projected on short wooden beams. These enabled the defenders to overlook and protect the base of the works, which were then the weak points of the fortifications, and were liable to attack by sapping or mining. The assailants carried out this kind of assault by rolling up their sappers to the walls in “cats” or “sows” (small wagons strongly constructed and defended on the top with bags of wool and wet hides), which could only be destroyed by great stones and beams, hurled down from the projecting “hoards” above. The sockets for this wooden armature of the walls still exists unaltered in the thirteenth century fortifications of Carcassonne and Aigues Mortes. By degrees the wooden hoards were abandoned, being found liable to destruction by the fire balls or “Greek fire,” which the crusaders had learned the use of in the East. Parapets of masonry were then substituted for them, projected on bold stone corbels, which left intervals between the parapet and the face of the wall, called” machicolations,” through which the defenders could rain missiles on the assailants. In the fourteenth century these corbelled parapets are amongst the most prominent and picturesque features of the castles and fortifications of the period. In course of time the stone parapets were further improved and heightened into several storys, the lower ones being covered, and the upper forming an open crenellated walk. In the fifteenth century this system reached its height, and produced in the lofty towers and walls, crowned with their numerous boldly overhanging works, some of the most magnificent works of the military architecture of the Middle Ages. We shall have occasion to refer to the various systems of defence adopted in the different castles and towns to be visited, when attention will also be drawn to the differences of the systems adopted in the North and South. We shall also find a remarkable application of castellated features in the churches of the South, where, after the twelfth century, almost every ecclesiastical structure is carefully fortified. This produces in the churches of the South one of their most striking peculiarities, and gives them, instead of the light and gracefully aspiring character of the Northern Gothic structures, a reflection of the grim and stern aspect of the feudal castle. The peculiar church architecture just referred to, no doubt derived its origin from the constant state of alarm and disturbance in which the Southern provinces were kept by the Albigensian wars, and the attacks of the Moors and Corsairs by sea and land. Some place of refuge and defence was required by the harassed inhabitants, who naturally fled to the church and fortified themselves therein. Frequently the cathedrals were comprised within the precincts of the Bishop’s Palace, which was fortified like a feudal castle. The cathedral being the largest building was eagerly seized upon as an important part of the fortifications, and even when the design was in Northern Gothic, had externally at least to adopt many of the defensive features of the South. Of this remarkable illustrations occur at Narbonne, Béziers, and Fréjus.

We have now rapidly sketched the various steps by which Roman architecture was gradually transformed, from being in its decorative features an imitation of the classic trabeated style, into an embodiment of the true principles of arcuated or genuine stone construction, as exhibited in the fully developed Gothic of the thirteenth century. We have seen that this was by no means a simple process, and that it was only accomplished by the ordeal of the destructive though purifying dissolution of the Dark Ages, whence the true spirit of Roman construction emerged, cleared to a great extent of the extraneous elements with which it had been so long encrusted. But although the true features of arcuated architecture now slowly began to be developed, they were both aided and retarded by the surviving relics of Roman art which existed in the West, as well as by the influence of the classic taste which continued to prevail, although in a modified and expanded condition, in the East. The country through which we are about to travel is remarkably favourable for the study of the effects of these various influences. We have already seen how rich it is in genuine Roman structures. In our further progress we shall note how these examples served as models for the revival of the architecture; for so closely were the ancient designs frequently followed that the new structures were almost complete resuscitations of the style of the Lower Empire.

We shall also have many opportunities of observing the influence of the modified classic art imported from Byzantium. Thence came the dome which forms one of the most important elements in the mediæval architecture of Aquitaine and the South, as well as numerous details and ornaments which served as the foundation or motive for much of the architectural decoration of the West, especially in Provence. How strongly these influences produced their impress on the architecture of the region we are to traverse, will be apparent; and it will probably be agreed by all that although the art of Provence was thereby advanced at first, the chief tendency of these classic reminiscences was to encourage an adherence to traditional forms, which prevented such a free growth and development as was afterwards displayed in the Northern districts, where the classic elements were less abundant. But in one respect at least the architecture of Provence deserves our gratitude and admiration, for, amidst all its classic surroundings, it boldly adopted and adhered to the true principle of arcuated construction, and introduced the use of the pointed arch. Although in its earlier stages this important feature was accompanied and encumbered with the revived details of Roman work, still, as we shall see, in its later phase, it entirely and completely discarded them; and in the twelfth century, under the guidance of the Cistertians, Provence produced a simple and natural style of arcuated architecture in which every feature is regulated by strict adherence to the genuine principles of stone construction. Of this simple but strong and impressive style we shall meet with many fine examples.

Up to this time the Provençal architects had led the way, but the period had now arrived when their principles were to be taken up and carried out with the boldness and energy of the Northern kingdom of France, then in its youthful prime. The lay architects of the North, seizing on the Provençal principle of the pointed arch, which they at once perceived to be so flexible and easy of application to every requirement, soon developed from it the magnificent system of the perfected Gothic of the thirteenth century. This was at once felt and acknowledged on all hands to be an immense step in advance of anything hitherto attempted in the West, and was speedily allowed to overshadow, and finally to supersede all other varieties of mediæval development. Of this result numerous illustrations will occur in the course of our journey; but we shall also observe how tenaciously the original forms of construction and plan were adhered to in the South, even after the Northern Gothic had been accepted as supreme in all minor details.

The cathedral is a fine specimen of the mixed style of this part of the country, the choir being partly Romanesque of the end of the twelfth century. The flat arcades of the interior (Fig. 36), composed of large trefoiled arches, resting on fluted pilasters, are very characteristic of the Burgundian style. The idea of these pilasters is derived from those of the Roman gates at Autun. In the cathedral there as well as at Tournus, and other towns of Upper Burgundy, such pilasters are of frequent use. The form of the clerestory windows seems to have been borrowed from these arcades. The choir has an apse, but no aisle running round it, as invariably happens in the North. Externally it presents a curious gallery with twisted shafts and inlaid coloured stones, like those of the Ainay. The towers at the transepts are a remarkable feature. The nave is Nothern Gothic work of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,--but the vaulting is sexpartite, a form entirely abandoned in the North at that date. Some of the carving on the west front is very vigorous and fine, recalling the splendid work on the portals of the north and south transepts of Rouen.

Altogether this building presents in the choir and transepts a singular mixture of the styles of Upper Burgundy, with those of the Rhine on the East, and Auvergne on the West; while the nave is an example of a transplanted design of Nothern Gothic.

In descending the Rhone the valley soon narrows, and we pass into the gorges amongst the mountains. On one of the rocky heights which jut out into the valley, the ancient spires of Vienne, and the summit of Mont Pipet, crowned with its Roman citadel, stand boldly out against the sky.

The town occupies a strong position and commands the pass, hence it was occupied as a fortress by the Allobroges from early times. Afterwards an important city under the Romans (as already mentioned in Part IV.), it continued so during the Middle Ages. But it suffered severely from the attacks of invaders, being first ravaged by the Lombards, and afterwards by the Saracens.

In the ninth century Boson, King of Burgundy and Provence, made Vienne his capital. After the fall of that kingdom, the city declined, and became the possession of the Dukes of Albon, who governed under the title of Dauphins of Viennois, till 1349, when Humbert II. ceded the country to the King of France.

The towers of the two most ancient churches, viz., St André-le-bas and St Pierre (Figs. 37 and 38), are very fine examples of the campanile-like designs of the South, and strikingly resemble that of the Ainay at Lyons. The former is ornamented with the arcading so characteristic of the churches of the Rhine and Lombardy, some of the miniature arches resting on corbels carved with grotesque heads. The tower of St Pierre has the large trilobed arch, also common in the region to the eastward.

St Pierre is very ancient and shews masonry constructed somewhat after the Roman manner, with courses of brickwork dividing the rubble. The west entrance is preceded by a porch or narthex in an early style.