Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/137

Rh Bk. V. Ch. I. HISTORY. 121 CHRONOLOGY. Years' duration. Name of style. Departure of ) Komans . . j Arthur. . .{480^f To establish- i ment of ' Heptarchy 400 700 To Conquest William I. . William II. Henry I. . Stephen Henry II. . Henry II. . Richard I. John . . . Henry III. 300-^ 36G Megalithic. — Stone Rude INIon- unients. 10(56 1 1087 I 1100 1135 1154, 1175 Early round- arched, or Saxon style. lOlM Round-arched style, Norman. lisill .j Early pointed 1216 I Lancet, or Plan- tagenet style. Years' duration. Name of style. Edward I. Edward II. Edward III. Richard II. Henry IV. Henry V.. Henry VI. Edward IV. Edward V. Richard III. Henry VII. Henry VIII. Edward VI. Mary. . Elizabeth. To. . . 12721 1307 1326 1377 J 1329 1412 1422 14C0 f 14S6 I 1483 J 1483 1509 1546 1553 1557 1602 f Perfected pointea 1 105 J Decorated, or I 1 Edwardian [ style. 108 < Late pointed Per- l>endicular, or Lancastrian style. f 117 Fan-vaulted Transitional, or Tudor style. After the departure of the Romans, the various tribes that in- habited the ishxnd were left so feebly organized, and so unequally balanced, that they could find no better occupation for their time than that of cutting each other's throats ; in which they were afterwards so ably seconded by the Saxons and Danes, that it is in vain to look for any development of the arts of peace among them. They M^ere equal to the erection of a Stonehenge or an Avebury in honor of those who fell in the struggles against their foreign invaders ; but beyond this their architectural aspirations do not seem to have reached. With the establishment of the Heptarchy, and more especially after Alfred's glorious reign, we might expect something better. The country was then converted to Christianity. Churches were wanted ; and there were Italian priests to be found who could tell the inhab- itants what was being done at Rome and elsewhere on the Continent. But against this we have the knowledge that the dominant race was Saxon or Danish — Aryan pur sang — and art had consequently no place in their affections. Their churches were probably small and rude, just sufficient for their purposes, and no more ; and designed, like railway stations, to last only till increasing accommodation should compel an alteration. Most probably, too, the greater number were built of wood ; and for the true Saxon style we ought perhaps to look to the Norwegian wooden churches — described in the last book — as types of the style, rather than to the towers erected, probably, as additions to the original wooden churches. Of these towers, many still remain in our island ; but in almost every case the wooden nave has been superseded by one of stone and generally in the pointed-arched style of architecture. With the Norman Conquest a new state of things was inaugurated. Great tracts of country and great part of the wealth of the conquered