Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/91

* GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 69 ricli decoration led to the iiililtration of Moorish ornament and details. Of tliis late and sur- charged phase of Gotliic architecture tlie mon- astery of Beiein and the mausoleum of Manoel 11. at Batalha, in Portugal, are the finest examples. 8onie of the Spanish churches arc immense. The Toledo Cathedral was already one of the largest in Europe, but Seville Cathedral, begun in 1401, was the largest media-val structure, measuring •115 X 298 feet. The lateness of Gothic sway is shown in the new Cathedral of Salamanca, built between 1,510 and 1560, while the Renais- sance was forcing its way into the country. Consult: Sti-eet, Gothic Architecture in S<pain (London, 1865) : Junghiindel and Gurlitt, Die Bciiikiinst Sjiriniriin (Dresden, 1891 -!)3), with photographic illustrations: Moiiumentos arqtii- tectonicos <le h'niKifia. in course of publication by the Spanish Government. Gbe.vt Britain. When, at the close of the twelfth century, Gothic began to replace Norman architecture in England it did not correspond as in France to any great national movement, like the rise of free comnnuies and of epi.scopal power. The Anglo-Normans had contented them- selves with wooden roofs, and so had not at- tempted to work nut any vaulting system. Even the Cistercian monks, so fond of vaulting, did not attempt to introduce' it in their English estab- lishments. The introduction came through the work of an architect from the Ile-de-France, Wil- liam of Sens, who rebuilt the choir of Canter- bury Cathedral in 1175. followed by Trinity Chapel. Toward 1190 comes the first great work of the real Anglo-Norman Gothic, the choir and transept of Lincoln Cathedral. Unlike most early Gothic churches in England, it has eon- temporarj' vaulting. At this time there was no unity of style. Most of the great monastic churches, like Fountains, Kirkstall, Byland, Whitby. Rievaulx. are not vaulted, and use the shafts and moldings connected with vaulting purely as decorative features. The nave of Lin- coln and the Cathedral of Salisbury (1220) fol- low one another early in the thirteenth century. What is called the Early English (q.v. ) or Lan- cet style is now fonned, lasting until 1280. This was followed bv the Decorated or Geometric style (1280-1.380) and by the Perpendicular style (1380 to sixteenth century). (See Articles on thes? subjects.) After -one last and most per feet reproduction of the French style in the interior of Westminster Abbey (1245-69), the national peculiarities were accentuated. France had been relatively unjirodnctive after the thir- teenth century, but England built as many fine Gothic monument.s in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth as in the thirteenth. York, Ely. Wells, Lichfield, Canterbury. Winchester are among the most notable cathedrals. Viewed from the standpoint of scientific embodiment of Gothic principles, these English catlicdrals depart woe- fully from ptire French standards. Neither do we usually find unity of style in the same building. Norman churches often have Late Gothic vault- ing. But, barring these defects, this group of English buildings is worthier to stand beside the French masterpieces than any other group in Europe. There are some marked peculiarities. The plan is very long and narrow, and the vault- ing low: thus Amiens is 521 feet long and 140 feet high inside, while Ely is 565 feet long and only 75 feet high. The width of the English GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. churches is but little more than half of the French. Besides, the choir end is square instead of polygonal, there is often a double transept at the east end, and the prevailing moldings are horizontal. All this gives a totally dilVerent ell'ecl to an English interior, which does not soar like the French. The exterior composition is also very diU'ercnt. The little Central French lantern is turned into a superb lofty tower, either square, as at Canterbury, York, Ely, Lincoln, or with a spire, as at Salisbury (424 feet high), Lichfield, and Chichester. No classic design for facades was followed, as in France, but every variety was indulged in, from the immense and picturesque screens at Lincoln and Peterborough to the more rational but commonplace facades of Liclifield and Wells There is nothing to cor- respond to the broad portals and wealth of figured sculpture of France. But the great projection of the towers, the length of the body, the group- ing of subordinate buildings, such as chapter- houses, cloisters, and chapels, and the picturesque surroundings give great eiTectiveness. Another marked peculiarity is the use of vaulting-ribs not purely for constructive, but for decorative purposes. Beginning by cutting up the vaulting surfaces into small compartments by diverging and cress ribs supplementing the original pair {Heme or star vaults), the next development was the famous /'«n-vaulting (q.v.) in which a great number of ribs diverge from separate cen- tres and meet at apices. This is carried to its extreme in the Chapel of Henry VIL at West- minster. The most elegant examples of this style are in the polygonal chapter-houses of Lincoln, Westminster, Salisbury, and Wells, which are among the most charming creations of English Gothic. Toward the close of the Gothic period the English created a type of semi-ecclesiastical, academic, and civil architecture that is best ex- emplified at Oxford and Cambridge, and in many castles and halls of the English nobility. Con- sult: Prior, A History of Gothic Art in England (London. 1900) ; Van Rensselaer, English Cathedrals (New York, 1892) ; and the authori- ties referred to under Romanesque Art. See also Early English; Decorated Style; Pee- PENDICULAB. Germany. It is difficult to find a consistent character in "German Gothic. It never became a national style as in France and England. The Romanesque style had had so superb a develop- ment in Germany that it was difficult to intro- duce a new style, and not until long after Eng- land and Spain, not until French Gotliic had reached its fullest expression in France, did it find a foothold. The cathedral at Limburg copies Noyon, and is still plain and heavy (1235). The Liebfrauenkirche at Treves ( 1227) . a copy of the French Church of Baione, is the first purely Gothic church. It was natural that the Rhine- lands should first adopt the new style, not only from its proximity, but because it excelled other provinces artistically. Saint Elisabeth at Mar- burg is an early example of the Gothic hall church, with nave and aisles of equal height, a German peculiarity exemplified later at Nurem- berg (Saint Sebald) and Breslau (Kreuzkirclie). The supremacy of the Rhineland is emphasized in the second half of the thirteenth century in three great churches; the cathedrals of Strass- burg, of Freiburg, and of Cologne, where French influence is almost unmixed with German pe-