GOTHLAND 



3620 



GOTHS 



called medieval, but this also ap- 

 plies only to western Europe ; me- 

 dieval art in Persia or India, for 

 instance, is not Gothic. 



About the middle of the 12th 

 century, especially in Paris and its 

 neighbourhood, all the inherited 

 forms of building were gradually 

 changed under the influence of 

 great dominating principles. The 

 leading ideas were freedom, energy, 

 and delight. There was a great 

 outburst of building fervour especi- 

 ally in churches, and under this 

 impulse the building art became 

 entirely experimental and organic. 

 The modern development of iron 

 structures like great bridges is in 

 some degree a parallel phenomenon; 

 these, too, are experimental and 

 organic, but only in regard to aims 

 limited to commercial profit and 

 political power. 



Constructive Balance 



The chief problem the medieval 

 builders set themselves to solve 

 was the erection of vast cathedral 

 buildings having high stone vaults. 

 Now, arches and vaults are active 

 things always tending to push out- 

 wards and fall ; thus these build- 

 ings came to be conceived as pro- 

 blems in equilibrium. The higher 

 central vaults of the nave were 

 usually sustained on either side by 

 lower vaults over the aisles, and 

 arched stone props, called flying 

 buttresses, were built from the 

 outer walls of these aisles to the 

 upper part of the main building or 

 clerestory. These arched props 

 were placed only at intervals be- 

 tween the windows ; at the outer 

 ends they rose from strong but- 

 tress masses built out from the 

 aisle walls. In some of the greater 

 French cathedrals there are two 

 aisles on each side of the central 

 span, the outer ones being the 

 lowest. At the middle point of all, 

 over the intersection of the nave 

 and transepts, a tall lantern tower 

 was frequently built ; the whole 

 plan and design turned on this 

 question of constructive balance. 



Jn all the minor parts and details, 

 a similar general idea of functional 

 service was developed, pillars 

 became very tall, and large 

 windows spread over the walls 

 between the supporting points. 

 Still further beyond the actual 

 needs of structure, the expression 

 of tense and active service 

 was increased by breaking up the 

 edges of arches and pillars into 

 many deeply cut mouldings, but 

 these and the many delightful 

 forms of tracery and sculpture 

 were means to what was thought 

 to be proper finish, and do not be- 

 long to the structural system 

 proper. It was these details, how- 

 ever, that caught the eyes of the 



older students of Gothic architec- 

 ture, which came to be thought of 

 as a picturesque grouping of towers 

 and traceried windows and pin- 

 nacles and parapets. 



The great spring-time of Gothic 

 art was the hundred years from 

 1150-1250; then came a century 

 or so of strong maturity, and then 

 a gradual decline. In England, 

 Canterbury Cathedral was built by 

 a French master-mason from about 

 1175, but a clear expression of the 

 Gothic spirit hardly became general 

 before 1200. At the middle of the 

 13th century, Westminster Abbey 

 and Salisbury Cathedral were being 

 built, and great works were in 

 progress at most of the other 

 cathedrals, and at scores of abbeys. 



The development of Gothic 

 architecture from first to last was 

 so regular that examples can be 

 dated with fair accuracy at sight. 

 In England the style of work which 

 is most characteristic of the 13th 

 century has been called Early Eng- 

 lish, the typical work of the 14th 

 century is Decorated, and that of 

 the 15th century is Perpendicular. 

 Although the 'perfecting of the 

 stone- vaulted cathedral was the 

 great task of Gothic architecture, 

 yet all other building problems, as 

 the castle, bridge, town hall, and 

 house, were dealt with in the same 

 spirit. Gothic and the other style- 

 names here mentioned are all 

 modern ; to those who executed it 

 their work was merely good build- 

 ing. Sec. Architecture ; Cathedral ; 

 Cologne. W. R. Lethaby 



Bibliography. Principles of Gothic 

 Architecture, M. H. Bloxam, 

 llth. ed. 1882 ; Development and 

 Character of Gothic Architecture, 

 C. H. Moore, 1899 ; A History of 

 Gothic Art in England, E. S. Prior, 

 1900 ; Gothic Architecture in Eng- 

 land, F. Bond, 1905 ; Medieval 

 Architecture, A. C. Porter, 1909 ; 

 Architecture for General Readers, 

 H. H. Statham, 1909 ; Gothic 

 Architecture in France, England, 

 and Italy, 2 vols., 1915. 



Gothland (Swed. Gottland). 

 Largest island in the Baltic Sea, 

 belonging to Sweden. It lies about 

 58 m. off the S.E. coast of the 

 Scandinavian peninsula, and is 76 

 m. long and 30m. broad, with an area 

 of 1220 sq. m. A level limestone 

 plateau, with an alt. of from 80 ft. 

 to 100 ft., encircled by cliffs and 

 broken by bays, its soil is fairly 

 fertile and the climate com- 

 paratively mild. It is well wooded 

 and the marshes have been drained. 

 Cattle, ponies, and sheep are 

 reared, and cereals, sugar beet, 

 fish, lime, stone, and timber are 

 produced. There are some 80 m. 

 of rly. and several small towns. 



In" the Middle Ages Gothland 

 was a member of the Hanseatic 



League, and since then it has had 

 various owners, finally becoming 

 Swedish in 1645. From its form 

 and situation it has been called fche 

 Eye of the Baltic. The capital is 

 Visby. Pop. 56,028. 



Gothland, GOTALAND OR 

 GOTARIKE. Most southerly of the 

 three old pro vs. of Sweden. It is 

 subdivided into 12 lans or depart- 

 ments. Mountainous and forested 

 in the N., and including lakes 

 Wener and Wetter, it also con- 

 tains some of the most productive 

 soil in the country. Gothenburg 

 (q.v.) is the largest town. 



Gothlandian. System of strati- 

 fied rocks, developed in Shropshire, 

 Wales, the Lake District, southern 

 Scotland, and north-eastern and 

 central Ireland. They are named 

 after the island of Gothland, 

 where they are typically de- 

 veloped. They consist of two 

 main types of rocks ; a great 

 thickness of limestones, sandstones, 

 and shales, containing fossil re- 

 mains of brachiopods, corals, 

 molluscs, and trilobites; and beds 

 of fine-grained deposits dark 

 shales and mudstones containing 

 graptolites. 



Three modern divisions are the 

 Valentian (at base), Salopian, and 

 Downtonian. Formerly they were 

 divided into Llandovery, Wenlock, 

 and Ludlow series, but correlation 

 in different areas was difficult 

 owing to variation in facies. At 

 the top of Ludlow the Ledbury 

 shales (Downtonian) form passage 

 beds into the overlying Old Red 

 Sandstone of the Devonian system. 

 Rocks of Gothlandian age are 

 well developed in Scandinavia, 

 Bohemia, Normandy, Brittany, and 

 the Baltic provinces. 



Goths. Teutonic people of the 

 Scandinavian branch. In the 1st 

 century A.D. they appear to have 

 been dwelling in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Baltic and the river 

 Vistula. In the 3rd century they 

 had migrated southwards and were 

 spreading along the N. of the Black 

 Sea and the Lower Danube. In the 

 second half of that century they 

 annihilated the army of the 

 emperor Decius, were heavily de- 

 feated later by Claudius, and were 

 finally allowed by Aurelian to 

 settle in Dacia. There they were 

 known as the Visigoths or Western 

 Goths, while the tribes which 

 remained in the E. were called 

 Ostrogoths. 



They dwelt on friendly terms 

 with the Roman Empire for the 

 next hundred years, but towards 

 the close of the 4th century the 

 pressure of the Huns (q.v.), who 

 subjugated the Ostrogoths, forced 

 the Visigoths to push over the 

 Danube, and the emperor Theo- 



