Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/474

 424 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE eluded that Gothic was a fitting name for a style which they believed to be the work of a barbarous age. Nor did the French at that time care to claim Gothic art as their own creation, since they too had gone back to imitation of clas- sical art and for centuries neglected their marvelous medie- val churches. Only in the course of the last century, to- gether with the Romantic movement in literature and the better knowledge of the Middle Ages resulting from modern historical scholarship, has there been real investigation, comprehension, and appreciation of Gothic architecture. It has been said that "the inert principle of construction, the massive walls, the small apertures, and the horizon- Gothic tal lines of the Romanesque architecture make construction it stin c i ose i y di ^ m to t h e Q ^ Roman style." Gothic, instead of being inert, is a decidedly energetic con- struction where thrust and counter-thrust are in perfect equilibrium. Instead of massive walls, it scarcely has walls at all. Its vaulted stone roof is upheld by a network of stone ribs and flying buttresses which carry the weight to a few selected points where adequate piers and buttresses receive and support it. Instead of small apertures, the front and sides and end of the cathedral are almost continuous sheets of stained glass, separated into arched windows only by the ribs of the structural skeleton. Instead of horizontal lines, every column and arch and rib and vault and roof and but- tress carries the eye upward. The church is actually higher than the average Romanesque church and it appears to be vastly more so. These changes have been effected largely through two important innovations, the pointed arch and the flying buttress. Hitherto the round arch had been employed in vaulting, in nave arches, in triforium, in doorways and windows, The pointed and in all architectural adornment. It seriously arch restricted the builders, since it must be always exactly half as high as its width and since all arches of the same height or width must be exactly alike. The pointed arch had been known before Gothic architecture started but the systematic employment of it both in structure