till their revival, all else being by them considered as barbarous and Gothic. The name has now, however, become generally adopted, and has outlived the reproach at first implied in it. It has also become limited and defined in its application. During the present century, the arts of the middle ages have been attentively studied, and their origin and history carefully traced; and as the knowledge of these styles has increased, a feeling of admiration has succeeded to that of contempt, and Gothic now ranks as one of the noblest and completest styles of architecture ever invented.

Origin. The origin of Gothic architecture has given rise to many very ingenious speculations. It has been said that the style was copied directly from nature; that the pointed arches and groins of the vaults were imitated from the overarching branches of trees; and that the stems of an avenue were the originals of the pillars of the Gothic aisles. Others have strenuously maintained that the invention of the pointed arch was a mere accident, arising from this form having been observed in the interlacing of the circular arches of a Norman arcade. It has also been stated that the style was imported from the East during the Crusades, and that the medieval architects had but little to do with its origin.

More careful study of the Gothic buildings which remain to us, has dispelled these fanciful ideas, and settled the origin and progress of the art on historical as well as internal evidence.

To trace Gothic up to its primary elements, we should have to go far back in the world's history. Some maintain that there are only two styles of architecture of which we have any knowledgeviz., Greek architecture and Gothic architecture; that these are the two typical styles, and that in them are contained all the elements of which all other styles are composed.

This is no doubt to some extent true, just as it is also true that all things in nature are derived from a few primary elements. But as there are many varieties in nature, so there are many developments of the two typical forms of architecture, all of which deserve to be classed as styles.

Greek architecture is the type of the trabeated style-i. e., the style whose principal feature is the straight lintel; Gothic is the type of arcuated architecture, in which the voids are spanned by arches. Of these typical forms there are many varieties. Roman Architecture (q. v.) is the transition form between them. The Romans adopted the Greek form of decoration and the Gothic form of construction; they decorated their exteriors with columns crowned by straight architraves and cornices, and inside these they formed the real construction with arches and vaults. The use of the latter gradually extended, especially in the construction of interiors, and by means of vaults the Romans were able to roof in large areas without encumbering the floor with pillars. This was found to be a very advantageous system of construction, and was carried out in many important examples, as, for instance, in the baths of Caracalla and Diocletian (see BATHS), the Basilica of Constantine, &c. In their works of public utility, where use, not decoration, was the chief object, the Romans always adopted the arch as the fittest mode of construction-as in their aqueducts (q. v.), bridges, &c. The arch thus came gradually more and more into use; and about the time when the barbarians first overran the provinces, the arcuated form of construction was universal, and some attempts had been made to conform the Greek decoration to the circular arches by bending the entablature round the curve--as in the palace of Diocletian at Spalato, in Dalmatia.

To the Romans, therefore, is due the introduction of an arcuated construction with a well developed internal, and a partially developed external decoration. The early Christians adopted their forms of construction and decoration from the Romans. They were also indebted to them for the plans of the buildings, which became the types of the Christian sacred edifices during the middle ages. The Basilica (q. v.), or Roman court-house and market-place, was found to be admirably adapted for early Christian worship, and the circular temples were the prototypes of the Christian Baptisteries (q. v.) which usually accompanied the basilicas. In erecting their buildings, the Christians not only adopted the plans and mode of construction, but used the actual materials of the buildings of the Romans, many of which had been destroyed by the barbarians. Where such materials were abundant-as in Rome and Central Italy-the early Christian architecture very closely resembled that of the Roman buildings which had preceded it. But in more remote districts the builders, finding no ready-made materials at hand, had to design and prepare new ones. doing so they followed as closely as they could the Roman originals, but their buildings partook more of the constructional than the decorative elements of Roman architecture. The Roman ornament thus dropped out of use; and when, in process of time, decoration was desired, each new people followed its own ideas. The traditional Roman decoration thus became to a great extent lost, and new styles introduced. These new styles each retained some of the original Roman forms and modes of construction; and each style depended for its peculiar character on the particular Roman forms it retained and developed. Thus Constantine, and the architects of the East, seized upon the dome as the distinguishing feature of their style, and the architects of Lombardy adopted the plain tunnelvault. The former style is called Byzantine (q. v.), and has been the type of all Eastern medieval architecture; and the latter Romanesque (q. v.), and has been the origin of all the western architecture of medieval Europe.

In

History. From Lombardy-in those ages part of the German empire-the Romanesque style readily passed into Germany and Switzerland, and was also most naturally adopted in the south of France, where examples of Roman architecture abounded. This architecture was carried out with various modifications in these different countries, all of which may have contributed to the general progress of the art; but as might be expected, it is to the banks of the Rhine where the successors of Charlemagne chiefly dwelt, that we must look for the first step in the development of Gothic architecture. The following short sketch of the development of vaulting will shew how this occurred.

The Roman basilicas, and, like them, the early Christian churches (fig. 1), were divided into a central nave with two side-aisles, the former separated from the latter by a row of columns on each side. These columns carried arches on which rested the side walls of the nave, which were carried sufficiently high to clear the roofs of the side-aisles, and admit windows to light the central nave. This row of windows afterwards became the Gothic Clerestory (q. v.). The apse at the end of the nave was semicircular on plan, and was usually roofed with a vault in the form of a semi-dome. This feature was also afterwards more fully developed in the chapels of Gothic churches. The nave and sideaisles were originally roofed with wood, but, owing to their frequent destruction by fire, it became necessary to cover the churches with a more enduring kind of construction. Vaulting was then

felt, through the Mediterranean commerce), the pointed tunnel-vault (fig. 5) had been long in use, and had superseded the semicircular tunnel-vault probably as early as the 9th or 10th century. This form of arch was thus probably suggested to the architects of the north of France, who at once saw how well it would overcome the difficulty of the yielding of the haunches in the semicircular arch. They were thus led to the adoption of the pointed form for their transverse arches as a structural expedient, and still retained the semicircular form in the groins. The next question which engaged attention, and the solution of which led to the further use of the pointed arch, was the vaulting of oblong spaces. This had been tried with semicircular arches, but it was found that in this way the vault would require to be very much domed the diameter of the arches (c, c, fig. 2) being so much smaller than that of a a-whereas by using pointed arches, of different radii, for the transverse and side arches all might be kept to about the same height (figs. 6 and 7). This is more

E

state, the vaulting of the gallery resists the main vault, as in fig. 5, and is at the same time groined. This leaves rather a weak point opposite the

fully explained by fig. 6. If AB be the diameter of the transverse arch (aa), and AC that of the side arches (cc), it is clear that the semicircular side arch ADC cannot reach the height of the transverse arch AEB, even when stilted as at D'. But in the pointed arch, CEB, the same diameter rises to very nearly the height of the transverse arch. The pointed arches ACB and A'CB' (fig. 7) shew how easily arches of this form, whatever their diameter, can be built of the same height. By the introduction of this new form of arch the vaulting was strengthened, and the thrust brought to bear steadily on single points. We have thus traced the history of vaulting from the time of the Romans to the 12th c., when the principles of Gothic pointed vaulting were fully developed; and we have dwelt particularly on this subject, because it includes the principles which regulated the whole of the Gothic style. Gothic was not the invention of an individual, but a necessary growth-a gradual development from structural requirement. This is clearly the case with regard to the vaulting, as we have traced it above, and the same might be proved regarding every member of the style. Thus it might be shewn how the ribs became gradually more decided, expressing the part they bore in the support of the roof; how the Nave Piers (q. v.) were gradually subdivided into parts, each shaft bearing on a separate cap a separate portion of the vaulting; how the buttresses were developed as they were required to resist the thrust of the groins concentrated on points; and how the flying buttresses were forced upon the Gothic architects much against their will, as a mode of supporting the arches of the roof.

The history of the latter is very curious. The thrust of the tunnel-vault was sometimes resisted by half tunnel-vaults over the side-aisles (see fig. 5). These, therefore, required to be high, and a gallery was usually introduced. In the Narthex at Vezelay (fig. 8) we have this gallery with the vaulting used as a counterpoise to that of the nave. This is a fine example of vaulting in the transition

Fig. 8.

transverse arches, and to strengthen these, flying buttresses are introduced, which timidly shew themselves above the roof. The galleries were, in later examples, dispensed with to admit of larger clerestory windows, and the flying-buttresses were left standing free. The architects finding them indispensable, then turned their attention to render them ornamental. Pinnacles may also be shewn to owe their origin to their use: they acted as weights to steady the buttresses and piers. We shall, under their separate heads, point out how each element of Gothic architecture was in the strictest sense constructional, the decoration being in harmony with its actual use, or as Pugin has said, 'decorated construction not constructed decoration.'

The full development of Gothic vaulting, which was the forerunner of the whole style, was first carried out in the royal domain in France about the middle of the 12th century. The Normans had settled in the north of France more than a century before this, and had applied their talents and the fruit of their conquests to the building of splendid temples in honour of their victories. In doing so, they followed out the round-arched style, and brought it forward by a great stride towards true Gothic. See NORMAN ARCHITECTURE.

South of the royal domain, in Burgundy, there had existed for centuries great establishments of monks, famous for their architecture. The Abbey of Cluny was their central seat, whence they sent out colonies, and built abbeys after the model of the parent one. The style in which they worked was also an advanced Romanesque, but different from that of the Normans.

Between these two provinces lay the royal domain. Owing to the weak state of the kingdom, architecture had hitherto made little progress in the Isle of France. About the beginning of the 12th c. the monarchy revived, and for the next two centuries was governed by wise and powerful monarchs, who succeeded in re-establishing the royal supremacy, A new impulse was thus given to the literature and arts of the country, by which architecture profited largely. From the state of ruin into which the kingdom had fallen, there were almost no churches existing worthy of the new state of things. New and great designs were formed: hitherto, almost all the important churches of France were abbey churches; now, under the royal patronage, cathedrals

were to be built. The bishops, envious of the power of the monks, lent their powerful aid, and the whole of the laity joined heartily in the work. With such a universal impulse, no wonder that architecture took a great stride, and new forms were introduced. It is to this period and people that we owe the development of the true or pointed Gothic style.

We have already seen at Vezelay how nearly the Burgundian monks had approached to Gothic. To complete the development, it only required the sidewalls and vaulting of the nave to be raised, so as to admit of windows over the roofs of the sidegalleries; and the flying buttresses to be raised with them, so as to receive the thrust of the vault -the latter being constructed with pointed groin ribs, and the side and transverse arches carried to the height of the groins. The laic architects of the royal domain soon accomplished this step, and the new style sprung up and progressed with the most astonishing rapidity.

The earliest example we have of the fully developed Gothic style is the Cathedral of St Denis, in which are deposited the remains of the kings of France. It was founded by the Abbé Suger in 1144. The Cathedral of Notre Dame of Paris soon followed, and almost contemporary with it arose the magnificent cathedrals of Chartres, Rheims, Amiens, Beauvais, Bourges, and a host of others.

Another cause which tended much to hasten the progress of the style, was the invention about the same time of painted glass. The Romanesque architects had been in the habit of decorating their churches with frescoes and other paintings; but this new mode of introducing the most brilliant colours into their designs was at once seized upon by the northern architects. The small circulararched windows, which were still in many instances retained long after the pointed-arch had become usual in the vaulting, no longer sufficed to light the churches when filled with stained glass. They were therefore enlarged, two or even three were thrown into one, divided only by mullions; this compound window was again increased until the compartment of the clerestory became almost wholly

for more and more space for stained glass was the origin of the window-tracery, which forms so beautiful a feature of the style. It is the last attenuated remains of the wall space of the clerestory, which was at last entirely absorbed.

Fig. 9, from Notre Dame, is a good illustration of the progress of French Gothic. The left-hand portion of the elevation shews the mode of fenestration adopted. The clerestory windows are small; and, in order to give more light, the vault of the gallery next the window is kept very high. This was the original design; but during the construction of the cathedral, the importance of stained glass had become so great, that the design was altered to give larger windows for its display, as shewn on the right-hand portion of the elevation. These windows also shew the simple early forms of tracery; that in the aisle windows being later and more advanced. Fig. 10 shews two bays from Tournay Cathedral, and is a good specimen

Fig. 11.-Salisbury Cathedral.

of the mode in which the whole space of the sidewalls was made available for window tracery and stained glass.

The further history of Gothic architecture in France is simply the following out, to their furthest limits, of the principles above indicated, on which the early architects had unconsciously been working when they originated the style. So long