GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 



ARCHITKt i 



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instructively intermingled with Norman round arches, *c., in parts of 

 Canterbury Cathedral, the east end of Chlohester and the chir of 

 Lincoln cathedrals, part* of the fine abbey churches of St. Albani, 

 OUstonbury, and Malmesbury, and in serenl other of our cathedral* 

 and larger pariah churchet ; and in France in Chartrea Cathedral, the 

 abbey of Fontenay, the churches of Pontigny, St. (i.-nncr, and many 

 othera, and notably in thoe of Central France. And in apeaking of 

 theae French churches, it deserves, to be noticed, that thii transitional 

 irtyle, in which the characteristics of the Romanesque and the Pointed 

 are 10 intimately blended, did, in fact, continue its existence through 

 Central France,' Lorraine, and elsewhere almost to the end of the 13th 

 century, in other words, during nearly the whole range of the early 

 pointed ityle. (De Caumont, ' Bulletin Monumental,' and ' Architecture 



The nomenclature and chronology of the styles of pointed Gothic 

 generally accepted in this country, ore those proposed l>y the Inte Mr. 

 Kick-man in his ' Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of Architecture 

 in England.' Taking the Anglo-Saxon and Norman aa pre-Qothic divi- 

 aionsTne reduced the classes of Gothic proper to three : Early English, 

 which prevailed from the end of the reign of Henry II. to the end of 

 that of Edward L, or from 1189 to 1807 ; Decorated EnglM, from the 

 beginning of the reign of Richard I. to the end of that of Edward III., 

 or from 1807 to 1877 : and Perpendicular EnglM, from the beginning 

 of the reign of Richard II. to the end of that of Henry VIII., or from 

 1377 to 1546. His arrangement was doubtless an improvement, be- 

 cause a simplification of those which preceded it ; but though seem- 

 ingly specific it is really deficient both in precision and accuracy. The 

 term* Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular, are formed on no 

 common principle. If Early English were a good title, some other 

 terma referring to time should have been combined for the later 



rom|>ored _ , 



eiently distinctive when the window tracery and panelling uf the 

 Ktyle are regarded, but it is characteristic of little beyond those features : 

 the extension of the term to the end of the reign of Henry VIII. is 

 generally given up. Later writers (as Mr. Sharpe) have proposed a 

 geometrical arrangement -.Lancet (1190 1245), (reometrical (1245 

 1S15), Varrilintar (13151360), lle.-tl/inear (13601550); or (as 

 Messrs. Garbett and Fergusson) a chronological one : Plantagenet, 

 I'Mv.ardian, Tudor; which have nt least the merit of defining by 

 sharply marked outlines. Another classification has however been 

 proposed, which has the opposite merit of being less rigid in its 

 boundaries, while it is not less explicit in expression. It is that of 

 Pint Pointed, Second (or Middle) Painted, and Thinl Pointed ; corre- 

 |H>nding generally to the Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular 

 of Kickman. Thin, some of the more systematic of its partisans have 

 again subdivided and fonnularised ; but if it be taken as a mere con- 

 venient form of expression, it will, we believe, be found superior for 

 all practical purposes to any other. Continental writers very generally 

 peok of the Gothic of the 13th, 14th, or 15th century ; and as it 

 fortunately happens that the styles prevalent during those centuries 

 are well marked varieties, this mode of speech in a very good one. 

 Hut in France nt least (and with French Gothic our own is nearly 

 cognate as well as synchronous) the terms Ogiral Primitif, Oijirnl 

 Secundairt, and Oyivat Teiiiaire, are recognised definitions ; and with 

 them our own First, Second, and Third Pointed Gothic would exactly 

 correspond, if we understood that those terms were merely convenient 

 expressions for the Gothic of the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries re- 

 spectively. In fact, whatever classification be adopted, there seems a 

 general inclination to make these centuries its chronological basis. 

 Without therefore venturing to discard Kickman's terminology, we 

 may now say that Early English, or First Pointed, may be taken to 

 stand for the architecture o{ the 13th century; Decorated, or Second 

 Pointed, for that of the 14th; and Perpendicular, or Third Pointed, 

 for that of the 15th : it twing clearly understood that neither style 

 was really circumscribed within strict dates. 



The Early English, or First Pointed style, had arrived nt its full 

 development in the early part of the 13th century. Characteristic 

 contemporaneous examples in England and France are the cathedrals 

 of Salisbury and Amiens, commenced respectively about the year 1219. 

 In Ixith of these the round arch and massive columns of the preceding 

 style have quite disappeared. The buildings are lighter, loftier, more 

 graceful in their proportions, more beautiful as a whole, more finished 

 in the details, distinguished by vertical rather than horizontal lines, 

 and exhibiting a great advance in constructive power. In them, as 

 Mr. Fergusson points out, are shown what continued to be character- 

 istic poinU of difference between English and French cathedrals : the 

 English showing greater length in proportion to width, less nltitude, 

 square instead of apsidal terminations, and more restraint in the orna- 

 mental details. Turning to the brood distinctive forms and details of 

 the style aa shown in English buildings, we observe that at first the 

 arch was exceedingly acute, nnd employed chiefly where small span 

 was required, ns in windows, which nt first consisted of a single aper- 

 ture, then of two, either distinct, with a narrow space or pier between 

 them, or combined together by means of a central pillar. Thin led to 

 similar grouping of three apertures, the centre one of which rose ln^li. i 

 than the others, and also to the practice of enclosing them wi.lnn a 



larger arch, the space between which and the lesser ones was filled up 

 with a circular arch, whereby the whole acquired not 'only greater 

 variety, but that architectural distinctness and completeness of form 

 in which the earlier kind of double-window was deficient on account 

 of its outline sinking instead of rising in the centre, and it 1 

 merely like two arches belonging to an extensive range. These grada- 



- l l ' -. 1 



y like two arches belonging to an extensive range. Tese graa- 

 in the composition* will be clearly understood from the subjoined 



York. 



miter. 



figures, the first nnd third of which nre spceinietH from York Cathedral . 

 the second from Winchester, and the fourth from Westminster Abbey : 

 the mode shown in the last evidently led the way to that of decorating 

 tin' window-head, by dividing it into smaller and more varied compart- 

 ments of ornamental panelling, which, whether perforated or not, i- 

 known by the general term of tracery, nnd constitutes a spe< 

 embellishment predominating in all the varieties of Pointed Gothic, 

 and likewise in all the different national schools of it. 



In the first class of our own First Pointed, or Early English, the 

 openings of the windows are lancet-headed, and not only narrow Imt 

 tall ; that is, the iirt below the spring of the arch is very long in 

 proportion to its width, a circumstance totally independent of the 

 form, of the arch itself, and therefore affording the greater scope for 

 variety. In fact, we behold n striking difference in respect to propor- 

 tions exemplified in the doorways of the same period ; for although 

 similar as to general character, and frequently, like the later double- 

 window above represented, consisting of two arches divided by a central 

 pillar, either single or clustered, with n eiivular eonipartiiient 

 them in the larger arch-head, the height from the ground to the 

 springing of the arch is sometimes even much less than the width of 

 the whole design, and not much more than double that of the smaller 

 arches. The receding sides, or splays, of such doorways were as deep 

 as those in the Norman style, and enriched with columns; and the 

 dripstone, or hood moulding (for it is variously termed, and is fin- 

 only moulding projecting from the wall, as all the others receded 

 within its surface), not (infrequently rested upon carved heads. Instead 

 of being placed upon pillars or cylindric piers, as in the Norman style, 

 the pier-arches (so called in order to distinguish them from arches 

 introduced in walls), which nre mostly kncet ones, are placed >.)''" 

 piers with shafts attached to them, so as to give the whole a clustering 

 form ; but there is so much variety, both as to plan and the enrich- 

 ment of capitals and other details, as to render it impossible to enter 

 into particulars without numerous explanatory drawings from dl 

 examples. The buttresses have greater projection than the part* wl>i<-h 

 appear to answer to them in Norman architecture. They are also 

 narrower, and some of them are divided into two or more stages by 

 wt-ofls, or horizontal splays, reducing the projection from the wall at 

 every stage. Flying buttresses were now first introduced [Bi'n 

 Gargoyles also lir,-' t this period both in France and Km- 



