Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/547

* BRIDGE. 481 BRIDGE. numerous to enumerate, are scattered every- where. The Roman arched viaducts spanning valleys and carrying the water-supply, such as the "Pont du Ciard,' in France, those of Segovia and Tarragona, in Spain, and of Carthage, are discussed under Aqieuicts. The care of the bridges was intrusted during the Roman rule to the curatores viariim, under an administration sui)er!ily organized, with spe- cial budget; and in the frontier provinces they were under military control. Bridges remained a matter of (irime importance, as military move- ments and eliicient taxation depended upon the maintenance of communications. So even at the time when Italy had been devastated by the wars of the Fifth and Sixth centuries, Narses still prides himself on his restoration of a bridge near Rome. The Lombard and Frankish rulers had great ditliculty in maintaining any elliciency in the matter of preservation of bridges. Charle- magne and his successors laid the duty upon the local bishop, as well as the imperial commission- er, and as the duties were collected at the bridges it is to be supposed that every effort was made to keep them intact, but with indifferent success, owing to the lack of engineering ability in West- ern Christendom. Considering now the history of ancient bridge- building in the Orient, the earliest specimens extant would appear to be two in Persia, at Dizful and Shuster, belonging to the late Achai- nienid kings, though they may not be earlier than s.onie of the Roman bridges; they are interesting as having the wide pointed arches that became so characteristic of Mohammedan architecture. The netv.ork of Roman roads throughout Asia Minor and Syria, with their magnificent bridges (e.g. at .paniea), was maintained in good condi- tion by the Byzantine rulers, and new- ones were erected, witness that near Adabazar, built in 561 by Justinian, 1400 feet long, with 8 arches of 75 feet span; that at Adana in Cilicia, with 18 arches on enormous piers, and that at Mopsues- tia with 9 arches — both erected by Justinian. The Arabs continued this tradition by utilizing the servic-es of both Persian and Greek engineers, and continuing the service of military roads, with regular stations for relays and the accommoda- tion of travelers (see Cabav. ser.i). There were great bridges at Cordova (..d. 717). at Hama (Hamath) with 11 arches, Antioch with 4 arches, near Aleppo with 1.3 arches, Adana, Aspendos, Beirut, with 7 arches, and many other places. As was the case in Spain, the care of the Byzantine and Mohammedan rulers and the continuity of their civilization insured the preser- vation of the Roman bridges and the creation of new ones of numumental design, while in Eu- rope the old traditions had been lost for nearly six centuries. Sultan Beybars, for example, was a great bridge-builder in Syria and Egypt, as at Lydda and Damia. With the revival of architectural and engineer- ing skill in the Eleventh and Twelfth centuries in Europe, and the contemporary development of preat cities, bridge-building awoke to new life throughout Europe. Broad rivers, heretofore crossed by ferries, were successfully bridged. Bridges on the outskirts of cities were strongly fortified, with high towers at the ends and some- times in the centre. like the Valentr/"' Bridge at Cahors. The medi.npval bridges were generally more steeply graded than the Roman. A small but very picturesque example of a very steeply graded bridge is near the Baths of Lucca (Tus- cany), hence called 'Ponte del Diavolo.' Some had two passageways, and a few, like that at Croyland, had three. This structure, which is one of the most curious of the early bridges, is known as the 'Trinity Bridge.' and is sui)posed to have been built about 1380 by the Abbot of Croyland in Lincolnshire. It stands at a jioiiil where the main stream of the river Wclland di- vides into two branches, and the three arches provide for three watercourses and three road- ways. Strictly speaking, the bridge consists of three half arches rising from the apexes of an equilateral triangle and meeting at a common point over the centre of the triangle. Owing to the steepness of its roadway, this bridge could never have been used for vehicles. The art of bridge-building revived in France earlier than cLsewhere, except Italy, and as early as the latter part of the Eleventh Century the great rivers were spanned at Lyons, Tours, Orleans, Vienne, and other large cities. It was considered as pious an undertaking to build a bridge as a church, and worthy of the granting of indulgences. When Benezet, a shepherd-mason, built (1177-80) the famous Avignon Bridge, nearl}' .3000 feet long, he founded an association of fratres pontificcs, or bridge-building brother- hood. The clergy, the monasteries, and the com- munes all joined in such constructions. Those in the south of France were especially magnifi- cent; such as those of Saint-Esprit (120.5-130!)), of Bfziers (Thirteenth Centur'). and of Montau- ban (1303-16), with a tower at each end, the Pont Valentre, at Cahors, with three towers, one in the middle, and the bridge of Orthez, where there is only a central tower. The social condi- tions of the Middle Ages made this fortification of the bridges a necessity. Germany was far be- hind France in bridge construction and fortifica- tion. Still it possessed some monumental and early examples, the finest being that over the Danube at Ratisbon (113.5) with 1.5 round arches (34 to 53 feet span), followed bv that over the Elbe at Dresden (1179-1260) with 24 arches (40- 95 feet span), Spain has some famous media>val bridges, especially at Zamora, Toledo, and Tu- dela, with from 15 to 20 pointed arches, and others at Placencia (1187) and Logrono (1138). In England, the great London Bridge (1176-1209), with its nine pointed arches of about 60 feet span, was built by an architect sent from France. This bridge had a covered gallery and was flanked with a double line of booths and shops and became one of the busiest marts of the city. This was often the case with the media-val bridges erected in the heart of a city, and not necessarily fortified. The famous Ponte Vecchio in Florence (1362) is the best preserved instance of this custom. It was the same with the covered bridge at Mantua and the Rialto Bridge over the (irand Canal in Venice (1588). Italy appears to have Ix-en sat- isfied with wooden bridges until the Thirteenth Century, with few exceptions, and to have lagged far behind northern Europe and the Orient in this respect, though large wooden bridges were in use in France as late as the Fifteenth Century. Aside from the Santa-Trinitt) Bridge at Flor- ence, the stone bridges at Massa and Signa are among the finest in Tuscany, and the 'Ponte del Diavolo' near Lucca is one of the boldest. The Renaissance returned to the round-arched style