Page:Charles Moore--Development and Character of Gothic Architecture.djvu/42

18 the utmost, while the sustaining shafts and piers, for which the best materials were selected, were reduced to a minimum of thickness. As this development of an independent framework progressed, the intervening walls, now no longer needed for the stability of the fabric, were also reduced in thickness; and the small apertures of the Romanesque style gave place to larger openings, which were gradually more and more enlarged, until they filled the entire space between the supports.

The general form and constructive features of a developed Gothic building may be summarised as follows:—