Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/518

 486 FRENCH ARCHITECTURE. Part II. 353. View of Chevet at Fontevrault. (From Faultrier.) in. The Charch of St. Sergius at Angers has i)ointecl arches certainly of an early date, but whether so old as this is not quite certain. It has already been suggested that all circular churches were originally sepulchi-al or intended to be so. There can also be little doubt but that the halves of round churches, which, as explained above, were adopted as the chevet termination of French basilicas, were also intended either to symbolize a tomlj- house or relic shrine, or actually to serve as the sepulchres of distinguished person- ages. This certainly appears to have been the case in the earlier French examples, and among these one of the most splendid in this province, indeed almost the only one of any real importance, is that of Fontevrault, where repose, or rather reposed, the remains of two of our Plantagenet kings, Henry II. and Richard I., with others of their family. As will l)e seen from the woodcut (Xo. 353), it is a mausoleum worthy of them, and a pleasing example of the style of the age, and though cer- tainly not so peculiarly Angiovine as the apsidal churches of Angers and Poitiers, has still distinguishing- characteristics which are not found in any other province of France. The nave is surmounted by four domes, as is usual in this and the more southern ])rovinces, and it is only in having an aisle trending round the apse that it differs from the ordinary churches. It may be seen from the plan (Woodcut No. 354. Elevation ofone of the Bays of the Nave 352) liow awkwardly this is done, at Fontevrault. (From Veriieilh.) '. . and how its ill narrow dimensions agree with the spaciousness of the nave. Woodcut No. 354 demonstrates how similar the domes of its nave are to those of Angouleme, Souillac, and those of the South — this domical arrangement being in fact as characteristic of this age and locality as the intersecting vault afterwards became of the Northern provinces.