Page:Charles Moore--Development and Character of Gothic Architecture.djvu/220

Rh with them, as they did into other countries, the traditions and tastes of France. Interesting and even admirable as this early architecture of Spain is, it does not, as I have said, belong to the true Gothic style. Nevertheless, certain portions of some of these buildings are Gothic to a considerable degree. Such churches as Veruela and Lerida, for instance, possess in their chevets and vaulting ribs much likeness to Gothic. And in some cases even the dome at the crossing—a feature which ordinarily, on account of its continuous thrusts, is far removed from Gothic principle exhibits something of Gothic character, by being constructed on the principle—of the vault of the French chevet, as in the Cathedral of Tarragona. These are, however, exceptional features which do not change the general character of this architecture. Gothic in principle it certainly is not, even in its internal arrangements, while externally, in the entire absence of buttress systems, it has no Gothic expression whatever; nor does it show any signs of growth. Its various elements were imported ready-made, and the style is substantially the same from beginning to end.

Nothing different appears in the Christian architecture of the country till about the second quarter of the thirteenth century, when the complete Gothic of France was taken as a model in the great Cathedrals of Burgos, Toledo, and Leon. The appearance of these buildings can be explained only on the assumption that they were, for the most part, directly copied from the nearly contemporaneous buildings of France, with more or less assistance from Frenchmen. Mr. Street supposes that they were designed, and perhaps even built, by Frenchmen almost exclusively. I can, however, hardly agree with this view, because they exhibit certain peculiarities that are not strictly Gothic—peculiarities such as men not fully imbued with Gothic principles, but habituated to the modes of design that had formerly prevailed in Spain, would naturally introduce. For instance, in the choir of the Cathedral of Burgos, which was begun in 1221, one year after the commencement of Amiens, the clerestory is almost as heavily walled as that