GOTHIC
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GOTHIC
enth century was simply Cluny in action, and during
this period the structural elements in Gothic arcliitec-
ture were brought into being. The twelfth century
was that of the Cistercians, Carthusians, and Augus-
tinians, the former infusing into all Europe a religious
enthusiasm that clamoured for artistic expression,
while by their antagonism to the over-rich art of the
elder Benedictines, they turned attention from decor-
ation to plan and form, and construction. The Clun-
iac and the Cistercian reforms through their own
members and the other orders which they brought into
being were the mobile and efficient arm of a reforming
papacy, and from the day on which St. Benedict pro-
mulgated his rule, they became a visible manifestation
of law and order. With the thirteenth century, the
episcopate and the secular clergy joined in the labour
of adequately express-
ing a united and un-
questioned religious
faith, and we may say,
therefore, that the
civilization of the Mid-
dle Ages was what the
Catholic Faith organ-
ized and invincible had
made it. We may,
therefore, with good
reason, substitute for
the undescriptive title
"Gothic" the name
"The Catholic Style"
as being exact and
reasonably inclusive.
The beginnings of the art that signalized the triumph of Catho- lic Christianity are to be found in Normandy. Certain elements may lie traced back to the Carolingian builders, the Lombards in Italy, and the Copts and Syrians of the fourth century, and so to the Greeks of Byzantium. They are but elements however, germs that did not develop until infused with the red blood of the Norsemen and quickened by the spirit of the Cluniac reform. The style developed in Normandy during the eleventh century contained the major part of these elemental norms, which were to be still further fused and co-ordinated by the Franks, raised to final perfection, and transfigured by a spirit which was that of the entire medieval world. Marvel- lous as was this achievement, that of the Normans was even more remarkable, for in the style they handed on to the Franks was inlierent every essential poten- tiality. At this moment Normandy w-as the focus of northern vitality and almost, for the moment, the re- ligious centre of Europe. The founding of monaster- ies was very like a mania and the result a remarkable revival of learning; the Abbeys of Bee, Fecamp, and Jumieges became famous tliroughout all Europe, drawing to themselves students from every portion of the continent; even Cluny herself had in this to take second place. It was a very vigorous and a very wide- spread civilization, and architectural expression be- came imperative. Convinced that "she was playing a part and a leading part in the civilization of Europe . . . Normandy perceived and imitated the architect- ural progress of nations even far removed from her own borders, .-it this time there was no other country in Europe that for architectural attainment could
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Church
compare with Lombardy. Therefore it was to Lom-
bardy that the Normans turned for inspiration for
their own buildings. They adopted what was vital
in the Lombard style, combincii this with what they
had already learned from their French neighbours,
and added besides a
large element of their
own national charac-
ter" (Arthur Kingsley
Porter, " Mediaeval
Architecture", VI, 2-13,
244).
What are these ele- ments W'hich were bor- rowed from the Lom- bards and the Franks, and which were to form the foundations of Gothic architecture? — They are, from the former, the compound pier and archivolt, the alternate system, the ribbed and domed vault; from the latter (i. e. from the Carolin- gian remains), the mod- ified basilican plan with its triple aisles crossed by a projecting tran- sept, and its three apses. — This, the basis of the typical Norman and Gothic plan, was derived directly from the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, the date of which is unknown. It may have been built by Constantino, or by Justinian, or at any date between, Professor Lethaby leaning to the latter conclusion. In any case it is not earlier than A. D. 300, nor later than 550. — From the Franks were also borrowed the doubled western towers, the lantern or central tower over the crossing, and tlie threefold interior system of arcade, triforium, and clerestory. It will be seen that the main dispositions of the Gothic plan are derived from Carolingian developments of By- zantine modifications of the early Christian basilica, itself but an adaptation of that of pagan Rome; from the Lombards, however, had been ac- quired three elements which were to lie at the base of Gothic con- struction. Many of the most characteristic features of Byzantine. Carolingian, and Lom- bard architecture h: been permanently i jected, showing t h the process folio w i was not one of slavi.^h imitation but rather of conscious selection ; the vast possibilities inher- ent in others had not been appreciated, as for instance the polyg- onal, domed motive of San Vitaleanil Aachen, surrounded by its vaulted ambuhUory, from which the F>anks were to evolve the Gotliic clu'i-et, while the pointed arch the Normans never used, though they must have known of, or imagined, its existence.
The actual steps in the development of what may be called the Gothic order, from the primitive basilica to the full perfection of Chartres, fortunately exist, and
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