GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE:STRUCTURAL PRINCIPLES, RIBBED VAULTING

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CHAPTER XV.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.

BOOKS RECOMMENDED: Adamy, Architektonik des gotischen Stils. Corroyer,

L'Architecture gothique. Enlart, Manuel d'archéologie française. Hasak, Einzelheiten des

Kirchenbaues (in Hdbuch d. Arch.). Moore, Development and Character of Gothic

Architecture. Parker, Introduction to Gothic Architecture. Scott, Mediæval Architecture.

Viollet-le-Duc, Discourses on Architecture; Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture

française.

INTRODUCTORY. The architectural styles which were developed in Western Europe

during the period extending from about 1150 to 1450 or 1500, received in an

unscientific age the wholly erroneous and inept name of Gothic. This name has,

however, become so fixed in common usage that it is hardly possible to substitute for

it any more scientific designation. In reality the architecture to which it is applied

was nothing more than the sequel and outgrowth of the Romanesque, which we have

already studied. Its fundamental principles were the same; it was concerned with the

same problems. These it took up where the Romanesque builders left them, and

worked out their solution under new conditions, until it had developed out of the

simple and massive models of the early twelfth century the splendid cathedrals of the

thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in England, France, Germany, the Low Countries

and Spain.

THE CHURCH AND ARCHITECTURE. The twelfth century was an era of transition

in society, as in architecture. The ideas of Church and State were becoming more

clearly defined in the common mind. In the conflict between feudalism and royalty

the monarchy was steadily gaining ground. The problem of human right was

beginning to present itself alongside of the problem of human might. The relations

between the crown, the feudal barons, the pope, bishops, and abbots, differed widely

in France, Germany, England, and other countries. The struggle among them for

supremacy presented itself, therefore, in varied aspects; but the general outcome was

essentially the same. The church began to appear as something behind and above

abbots, bishops, kings, and barons. The supremacy of the papal authority gained

increasing recognition, and the episcopacy began to overshadow the monastic

institutions; the bishops appearing generally, but especially in France, as the

champions of popular rights. The prerogatives of the crown became more firmly

established, and thus the Church and the State emerged from the social confusion as

the two institutions divinely appointed for the government of men.

FIG. 105.--CONSTRUCTIVE SYSTEM OF GOTHIC CHURCH,

ILLUSTRATING PRINCIPLES OF ISOLATED SUPPORTS AND BUTTRESSING.

Under these influences ecclesiastical architecture advanced with rapid strides. No

longer hampered by monastic restrictions, it called into its service the laity, whose

guilds of masons and builders carried from one diocese to another their constantly

increasing stores of constructive knowledge. By a wise division of labor, each man

wrought only such parts as he was specially trained to undertake. The master-

builder--bishop, abbot, or mason--seems to have planned only the general

arrangement and scheme of the building, leaving the precise form of each detail to be

determined as the work advanced, according to the skill and fancy of the artisan to

whom it was intrusted. Thus was produced that remarkable variety in unity of the

Gothic cathedrals; thus, also, those singular irregularities and makeshifts, those

discrepancies and alterations in the design, which are found in every great work of

mediæval architecture. Gothic architecture was constantly changing, attacking new

problems or devising new solutions of old ones. In this character of constant flux and

development it contrasts strongly with the classic styles, in which the scheme and

the principles were easily fixed and remained substantially unchanged for centuries.

STRUCTURAL PRINCIPLES. The pointed arch, so commonly regarded as the most

characteristic feature of the Gothic styles, was merely an incidental feature of their

development. What really distinguished them most strikingly was the systematic

application of two principles which the Roman and Byzantine builders had

recognized and applied, but which seem to have been afterward forgotten until they

were revived by the later Romanesque architects. The first of these was the

concentration of strains upon isolated points of support, made possible by the

substitution of groined for barrel vaults. This led to a corresponding concentration of

the masses of masonry at these points; the building was constructed as if upon legs

(Fig. 105). The wall became a mere filling-in between the piers or buttresses, and in

time was, indeed, practically suppressed, immense windows filled with stained glass

taking its place. This is well illustrated in the Sainte Chapelle at Paris, built 1242

47 (Figs. 106, 122). In this remarkable edifice, a series of groined vaults spring from

slender shafts built against deep buttresses which receive and resist all the thrusts.

The wall-spaces between them are wholly occupied by superb windows filled with

stone tracery and stained glass. It would be impossible to combine the materials used

more scientifically or effectively. The cathedrals of Gerona (Spain) and of Alby

(France; Fig. 123) illustrate the same principle, though in them the buttresses are

internal and serve to separate the flanking chapels.

FIG. 106.--PLAN OF SAINTE CHAPELLE, PARIS, SHOWING SUPPRESSION OF SIDE-WALLS.

The second distinctive principle of Gothic architecture was that of balanced thrusts.

In Roman buildings the thrust of the vaulting was resisted wholly by the inertia of

mass in the abutments. In Gothic architecture thrusts were as far as possible resisted

by counter-thrusts, and the final resultant pressure was transmitted by flying half-

arches across the intervening portions of the structure to external buttresses placed

at convenient points. This combination of flying half-arches and buttresses is called

the flying-buttress (Fig. 107). It reached its highest development in the thirteenth and

fourteenth centuries in the cathedrals of central and northern France.

RIBBED VAULTING. These two principles formed the structural basis of the Gothic

styles. Their application led to the introduction of two other elements, second only to

them in importance, ribbed vaulting and the pointed arch.

The first of these resulted from the effort to overcome certain practical difficulties

encountered in the building of large groined vaults. As ordinarily constructed,

a groined vault like that in Fig. 47, must be built as one structure, upon wooden

centrings supporting its whole extent.

FIG. 107.--EARLY GOTHIC FLYING BUTTRESS.

FIG. 108.--RIBBED VAULT, ENGLISH TYPE, WITH DIVIDED GROIN-RIBS AND RIDGE-RIBS.

The Romanesque architects conceived the idea of constructing an independent

skeleton of ribs. Two of these were built against the wall (wall-ribs), two across the

nave (transverse ribs); and two others were made to coincide with the groins (Figs.

98, 108). The groin-ribs, intersecting at the centre of the vault, divided each bay into

four triangular portions, or compartments, each of which was really an independent

vault which could be separately constructed upon light centrings supported by the

groin-ribs themselves. This principle, though identical in essence with the Roman

system of brick skeleton-ribs for concrete vaults, was, in application and detail,

superior to it, both from the scientific and artistic point of view. The ribs, richly

moulded, became, in the hands of the Gothic architects, important decorative

features. In practice the builder gave to each set of ribs independently the curvature

he desired. The vaulting-surfaces were then easily twisted or warped so as to fit the

various ribs, which, being already in place, served as guides for their construction.

FIG. 109.--PENETRATIONS AND INTERSECTIONS OF VAULTS.

a, a, Penetrations by small semi-circular vaults sprung from same level. b, Intersection by

small semi-circular vault sprung from higher level; groins form wavy lines. c, Intersection

by narrow pointed vault sprung from same level; groins are plane curves.

THE POINTED ARCH was adopted to remedy the difficulties encountered in the

construction of oblong vaults. It is obvious that where a narrow semi-cylindrical vault

intersects a wide one, it produces either what are called penetrations, as at a (Fig.

109), or intersections like that at b, both of which are awkward in aspect and hard

to construct. If, however, one or both vaults be given a pointed section, the narrow

vault may be made as high as the wide one. It is then possible, with but little

warping of the vaulting surfaces, to make them intersect in groins c, which are

vertical plane curves instead of wavy loops like a and b.

FIG. 110.--PLATE TRACERY, CHARLTON-ON-OXMORE.

The Gothic architects availed themselves to the full of these two devices. They built

their groin-ribs of semi-circular or pointed form, but the wall-ribs and the transverse

ribs were, without exception, pointed arches of such curvature as would bring the

apex of each nearly or quite to the level of the groin intersection. The pointed arch,

thus introduced as the most convenient form for the vaulting-ribs, was soon applied

to other parts of the structure. This was a necessity with the windows and pier-

arches, which would not otherwise fit well the wall-spaces under the wall-ribs of the

nave and aisle vaulting.

TRACERY AND GLASS. With the growth in the size of the windows and the

progressive suppression of the lateral walls of vaulted structures, stained glass came

more and more generally into use. Its introduction not only resulted in a notable

heightening and enriching of the colors and scheme of the interior decoration, but

reacted on the architecture, intensifying the very causes which led to its introduction.

It stimulated the increase in the size of windows, and the suppression of the walls,

and contributed greatly to the development of tracery. This latter feature was an

absolute necessity for the support of the glass. Its evolution can be traced (Figs, 110,

111, 112) from the simple coupling of twin windows under a single hood-mould, or

discharging arch, to the florid net-work of the fifteenth century. In its earlier forms it

consisted merely of decorative openings, circles, and quatrefoils, pierced through

slabs of stone (plate-tracery), filling the window-heads over coupled windows. Later

attention was bestowed upon the form of the stonework, which was made lighter and

richly moulded (bar-tracery), rather than upon that of the openings (Fig. 111). Then

the circular and geometric patterns employed were abandoned for more flowing and

capricious designs (Flamboyant tracery, Fig. 112) or (in England) for more rigid and

rectangular arrangements (Perpendicular, Fig. 134). It will be shown later that the

periods and styles of Gothic architecture are more easily identified by the tracery

than by any other feature.

FIG. 111.--BAR TRACERY, ST. MICHAEL'S, WARFIELD.

CHURCH PLANS. The original basilica-plan underwent radical modifications during

the 12th-15th centuries. These resulted in part from the changes in construction

which have been described, and in part from altered ecclesiastical conditions and

requirements. Gothic church architecture was based on cathedral design; and the

requirements of the cathedral differed in many respects from those of the monastic

churches of the preceding period.

The most important alterations in the plan were in the choir and transepts. The choir

was greatly lengthened, the transepts often shortened. The choir was provided with

two and often four side-aisles, and one or both of these was commonly carried

entirely around the apsidal termination of the choir, forming a single or double

ambulatory. This combination of choir, apse, and ambulatory was called, in French

churches, the chevet.

Another advance upon Romanesque models was the multiplication of chapels--

a natural consequence of the more popular character of the cathedral as compared

with the abbey. Frequently lateral chapels were built at each bay of the side-aisles,

filling up the space between the deep buttresses, flanking the nave as well as the

choir. They were also carried around the chevet in most of the French cathedrals

(Paris, Bourges, Reims, Amiens, Beauvais, and many others); in many of those in

Germany (Magdeburg, Cologne, Frauenkirche at Treves), Spain (Toledo, Leon,

Barcelona, Segovia, etc.), and Belgium (Tournay, Antwerp). In England the choir had

more commonly a square eastward termination. Secondary transepts occur

frequently, and these peculiarities, together with the narrowness and great length of

most of the plans, make of the English cathedrals a class by themselves.

FIG. 112.--ROSE WINDOW, CHURCH OF ST. OUEN, ROUEN.

PROPORTIONS AND COMPOSITION. Along with these modifications of the

basilican plan should be noticed a great increase in the height and slenderness of all

parts of the structure. The lofty clearstory, the arcaded triforium-passage or gallery

beneath it, the high pointed pier-arches, the multiplication of slender clustered

shafts, and the reduction in the area of the piers, gave to the Gothic churches an

interior aspect wholly different from that of the simpler, lower, and more massive

Romanesque edifices. The perspective effects of the plans thus modified, especially of

the complex choir and chevet with their lateral and radial chapels, were remarkably

enriched and varied.

The exterior was even more radically transformed by these changes, and by the

addition of towers and spires to the fronts, and sometimes to the transepts and to

their intersection with the nave. The deep buttresses, terminating in pinnacles, the

rich traceries of the great lateral windows, the triple portals profusely sculptured,

rose-windows of great size under the front and transept gables, combined to produce

effects of marvellously varied light and shadow, and of complex and elaborate

structural beauty, totally unlike the broad simplicity of the Romanesque exteriors.

FIG. 113.--FLAMBOYANT DETAIL FROM PULPIT IN STRASBURG CATHEDRAL.

DECORATIVE DETAIL. The mediæval designers aimed to enrich every constructive

feature with the most effective play of lights and shades, and to embody in the

decorative detail the greatest possible amount of allegory and symbolism, and

sometimes of humor besides. The deep jambs and soffits of doors and pier-arches

were moulded with a rich succession of hollow and convex members, and adorned

with carvings of saints, apostles, martyrs, and angels. Virtues and vices, allegories of

reward and punishment, and an extraordinary world of monstrous and grotesque

beasts, devils, and goblins filled the capitals and door-arches, peeped over tower-

parapets, or leered and grinned from gargoyles and corbels. Another source of

decorative detail was the application of tracery like that of the windows to wall-

panelling, to balustrades, to open-work gables, to spires, to choir-screens, and other

features, especially in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (cathedrals of York,

Rouen, Cologne; Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster). And finally in the carving of

capitals and the ornamentation of mouldings the artists of the thirteenth century and

their successors abandoned completely the classic models and traditions which still

survived in the early twelfth century. The later monastic builders began to look

directly to nature for suggestions of decorative form. The lay builders who sculptured

the capitals and crockets and finials of the early Gothic cathedrals adopted and

followed to its finality this principle of recourse to nature, especially to plant life. At

first the budding shoots of early spring were freely imitated or skilfully

conventionalized, as being by their thick and vigorous forms the best adapted for

translation into stone (Fig. 114). During the thirteenth century the more advanced

stages of plant growth, and leaves more complex and detailed, furnished the models

for the carver, who displayed his skill in a closer and more literal imitation of their

minute veinings and indentations (Fig. 115).

FIG. 114.--EARLY GOTHIC CARVING.

This artistic adaptation of natural forms to architectural decoration degenerated later

into a minutely realistic copying of natural foliage, in which cleverness of execution

took the place of original invention. The spirit of display is characteristic of all late

Gothic work. Slenderness, minuteness of detail, extreme complexity and intricacy of

design, an unrestrained profusion of decoration covering every surface, a lack of

largeness and vigor in the conceptions, are conspicuous traits of Gothic design in the

fifteenth century, alike in France, England, Germany, Spain, and the Low Countries.

Having worked out to their conclusion the structural principles bequeathed to them

by the preceding centuries, the authors of these later works seemed to have devoted

themselves to the elaboration of mere decorative detail, and in technical finish

surpassed all that had gone before (Fig. 113).

FIG. 115.--CARVING, DECORATED PERIOD, FROM SOUTHWELL MINSTER.

CHARACTERISTICS SUMMARIZED. In the light of the preceding explanations

Gothic architecture may be defined as that system of structural design and

decoration which grew up out of the effort to combine, in one harmonious and

organic conception, the basilican plan with a complete and systematic construction of

groined vaulting. Its development was controlled throughout by considerations of

stability and structural propriety, but in the application of these considerations the

artistic spirit was allowed full scope for its exercise. Refinement, good taste, and

great fertility of imagination characterize the details and ornaments of Gothic

structures. While the Greeks in harmonizing the requirements of utility and beauty in

architecture approached the problem from the æsthetic side, the Gothic architects

did the same from the structural side. Their admirably reasoned structures express as

perfectly the idea of vastness, mystery, and complexity as do the Greek temples that

of simplicity and monumental repose.

The excellence of Gothic architecture lay not so much in its individual details as in

its perfect adaptation to the purposes for which it was developed--its triumphs were

achieved in the building of cathedrals and large churches. In the domain of civil and

domestic architecture it produced nothing comparable with its ecclesiastical edifices,

because it was the requirements of the cathedral and not of the palace, town-hall, or

dwelling, that gave it its form and character.

PERIODS. The history of Gothic architecture is commonly divided into three periods,

which are most readily distinguished by the character of the window-tracery. These

periods were not by any means synchronous in the different countries; but the order

of sequence was everywhere the same. They are here given, with a summary of the

characteristics of each.

EARLY POINTED PERIOD. [Early French; Early English or Lancet Period in England;

Early German, etc.] Simple groined vaults; general simplicity and vigor of design and

detail; conventionalized foliage of small plants; plate tracery, and narrow windows

coupled under pointed arch with circular foiled openings in the window-head. (In

France, 1160 to 1275.)

MIDDLE POINTED PERIOD. [Rayonnant in France; Decorated or Geometric in England.]

Vaults more perfect; in England multiple ribs and liernes; greater slenderness and

loftiness of proportions; decoration much richer, less vigorous; more naturalistic

carving of mature foliage; walls nearly suppressed, windows of great size, bar tracery

with slender moulded or columnar mullions and geometric combinations (circles and

cusps) in window-heads, circular (rose) windows. (In France, 1275 to 1375.)

FLORID GOTHIC PERIOD. [Flamboyant in France; Perpendicular in England.] Vaults of

varied and richly decorated design; fan-vaulting and pendants in England, vault-ribs

curved into fanciful patterns in Germany and Spain; profuse and minute decoration

and cleverness of technical execution substituted for dignity of design; highly realistic

carving and sculpture, flowing or flamboyant tracery in France; perpendicular bars

with horizontal transoms and four-centred arches in England; "branch-tracery" in

Germany. (In France, 1375 to 1525.)

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