Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/243

 INTRODUCTORY 223 - THIRD PERIOD defended with gates, portcullis, etc., as well as from apertures in the vault. These edifices have a considerable resemblance to similar castles in France of about the same date. At Pierrefonds, for instance (ante, p. 47), the keep is a large building or residence capable of being detached from the rest of the castle. The entrance is under part of the buildings adjoining the keep, and is flanked by a large round tower similar to though on a larger scale than that at Doune. In the later examples of these castles with quadrangles the defensive features are gradually reduced in importance, although never abandoned, and the buildings assume somewhat the appearance of the contemporary mansions in England. At Linlithgow and Stirling palaces, for example, the state and domestic apartments are more fully developed than in the earlier castles, and a richer and more fanciful design takes the place of the grander though more rugged architecture of defence of Doune and Tantallon. In these later edifices, especially at Linlithgow, may be observed a gradual assimilation to the contemporary English style of architecture, and in the early part of the sixteenth century (as at Stirling and Falkland) there are distinct traces of the approaching advent of the Renaissance. This is very observable in the palace at Stirling, built about 1500, where the classic ornament begins to be applied to the old forms, and where grotesque imitations of classic sculpture are for the first time introduced. These novelties are said to have been executed by foreign workmen, which is not improbable. The above style of castles with quadrangles marks a distinct period in the history of Scottish architecture, commencing with the fifteenth century, and ending with the death of James v., in 1542. It thus exactly corresponds with the reigns of the first five Jameses, and forms the third period of our Scottish Castellated and Domestic Architecture. The castles with quadrangles of this period distinguish it from the preceding period, in which, as we have seen, there were no such castles. They also distinguish it from the succeeding period, for although there were numerous castles with quadrangles after the above date, we shall see as we proceed that they were marked by features which dis- tinguish them from those of the third period. This period, like every other period of Scotch architecture, contains, in addition to the castles with quadrangles above referred to, a large number of contemporary castles built on the old keep plan. A considerable number of buildings were also converted into castles with quadrangles by additions made to old keeps in the form of buildings surrounding a courtyard, in the same way as those of the first period which we have already considered, such as Crichton, Craigmillar, Castle Campbell, etc. The castles of this period, however, whether on the "courtyard" plan or the "keep" plan, have all a strong similarity 01