Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/305

 FRENCH ROMANESQUE. 247 the means of producing grand and severe effects, and the change to the pointed style was promoted, by the effort to solve tlie problems of vaulting. V. Social and Political. — Hugh Capet ascended the Frankish throne towards the close of the tenth century, Paris being made the capital of the kingdom. At this period the greater part of the country was held by independent lords, and the authority of the king extended little beyond Paris and Orleans. Lawlessness and bloodshed were rife throughout the century, hence archi- tectural progress was impossible until a more settled state of society was established. vi. Historical. — On the death of Charlemagne, Northern France was invaded by the Northmen, from whom Normandy was named, and their ruler Rollo was the ancestor of the Norman kings of England. The conquest of England in 1066 marked the transference of the most vigorous of the Normans to England, Normandy becoming an English province until the time of King John. The hold, however, which they retained on their possessions in France was the cause of continual invasions and wars in the two countries, until the complete fusion of races in both Avas marked by the loss of the English possessions in France. 2. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER. The southern style is remarkable for its rich decorati'e facades and graceful cloisters, the buildings of Provence being a new version of old Roman features, which seem to have acquired a fresh significance. In Aquitania and Anjou the ast interiors in one span, supported by the massive walls of the recessed chapels, are impressive, and seem to revive the great halls of the Roman Thermae. In the north the style is the promising commencement of a new epoch, having the first tentative essays of a new system. The interiors were close set with pier and pillar, and heavily roofed with ponderous arching, forming a link to the marvellous structures of the next three centuries, where matter is lost in the emotions expressed. The plain thick walls, usually Avith flat external buttresses in the north or internal buttresses in the south, emphasized the rich- ness of the west fronts of the churches in both districts. The development of vaulting, Avhich Avas different in the north and south (page 223), made much progress, especially along the Loire Valley. In the south, naves Avere covered Avith barrel vaults, Avhose thrust Avas resisted by half barrel A'aults, over two-storied aisles (No. 100 b), thus suppressing the clerestory, as to Notre Dame du Port, Clermont-Ferrand. In the north, na es Avere covered by groined vaults, often in