The same tradition
was followed at Durham, Lincoln, and many other important churches.
was followed at Durham, Lincoln, and many other important churches.
Cambridge Medieval History - v3 - Germany and the Western Empire
There is ample documentary record of the
culture of the time when Wilfrid and Benedict Biscop built churches and
formed monastic libraries, and when Bede wrote his famous history.
Some remnants of Wilfrid's churches yet remain, and Bede tells us how
they were decorated by paintings forming a consistent series of Biblical
CH. XXI.
## p. 554 (#600) ############################################
554
Roman influence in England
types and story. These paintings were brought from Rome, and the
fortunate discovery of the painted walls of Sta Maria Antiqua in that
city, which were decorated by Greek artists just at the time that Benedict
Biscop was making his collection, suggests very clearly what these
pictures must have been like. It cannot be doubted that they were
of eastern origin. Many works of art, which we still fortunately possess,
have been attributed to the same age, but some of them are so remark-
able as compared with other works of that time on the Continent that
Commendatore Rivoira and Professor Cook of Yale have argued with
great detail that they could not have been produced at that time. At
Ruthwell and Bewcastle, on either side of the Scottish border, are the
shafts of two tall standing crosses elaborately sculptured with figures and
pattern-work, with long inscriptions in runes, and, in the case of
Ruthwell, with Latin inscriptions as well.
inscriptions as well. Rivoira, approaching the
question from the Italian point of view, and with a wide knowledge of
European art, would assign them to the twelfth century, and Professor
Cook argues that they were probably erected by King David of Scotland
about 11401.
These noble cross shafts, however, are only the most famous of a large
class of monuments of more or less the same type, which must belong to
about the same period. If they have to be dated in the twelfth century, the
Irish crosses also, as is recognised by the critics just named, cannot be
earlier. Such a scheme in all its implications would make a tremendous
alteration in British archaeology. On the other hand, the early dates of
some of the Saxon works are so firmly established that they cannot even
be attacked. Such are large numbers of early Saxon coins, some of which
bear devices analogous to the decorations of the crosses, while others,
like the coins of Offa, have fine heads. Others, again, like a coin of
Peada, have runes of similar form to those on the crosses. If a selection
of such coins was published in comparison with the crosses, much that
has been said as to the improbability of the early date of these would
have to be ruled out. We also possess the splendid illuminated text
written and decorated at Lindisfarne very early in the eighth century,
with its braided ornamentation, symbols of the four evangelists, and
other designs which closely resemble the ornament and symbols on the
crosses. There is also the noble Codex Amiatinus, once owned by Abbot
Ceolfrid, and taken with him as a present for the Pope when he left
England for Rome in 716, which has some points of resemblance. It has
further been shewn that the Latin inscriptions, which describe the sculp-
tures on the Ruthwell Cross, are in an alphabet of a semi-Irish character
resembling the letters of the Lindisfarne book, while the runic inscrip-
tion of this cross contains a version of the old English poem on the
Dream of the Holy Rood, which Dr Bradley attributes to the authorship
of Caedmon. Another monument, the date of which has not been
1 See Baldwin Brown, G. , The Arts in Early England, Vol. v. 1921.
а
## p. 555 (#601) ############################################
The English crosses
555
attacked, is the shrine of St Cuthbert now at Durham, which is recorded
to have been made in 698. Some designs incised on it, which include
figures of Christ, angels, and apostles, together with symbols of the
ev gelists, a cross and inscriptions, are again singularly like the designs
found
upon the two great cross shafts. The runes on the Bewcastle
cross formed a memorial inscription, which is terribly decayed, and
doubt is cast on the readings, first made in 1856, by which it appeared
that it was set up to Alchfrid, son of Oswy, about the year 670. On
the other hand, the name Cyneburh, which was the name of Alchfrid's
wife, has often been read by many independent observers, including
Kemble, in 1840. Even the presence of the name Alchfrid is admitted
by Viator, the Runic scholar, but Professor Cook claims that the form
is feminine and cannot apply to Alchfrid. Thus the question stands for
the moment, but when, by comparative illustration, it has been shewn
that the objection to the early date of the art of these wonderful monu-
ments must fall to the ground, then we may anticipate that much of the
opposition to the interpretation of the runes will also disappear. At the
least the certain name of Cyneburh will be given its due weight. The
present writer has no doubt at all that these crosses were set up by a
powerful Northumbrian ruler in the seventh century. Professor Cook even
expresses a doubt as to whether these shafts were parts of crosses at all,
which to English scholars will seem like doubting whether a torn volume
was ever a book: His work, however, is valuable as stating the case
for the extremist reaction. In regard to the sculptures on the Ruthwell
cross, it has been shewn that they have affinities with the subjects on the
Byzantine ivory throne at Ravenna, which was probably made in Alex-
andria, and with some Coptic works. Now the second half of the
seventh century was exactly the time when Rome itself had become
almost completely Byzantinised. The church of Sta Maria Antiqua, before
mentioned, belongs to this time. It is no accident that it was just at
this moment that a Greek from Tarsus, Theodore by name, became
Archbishop of Canterbury. The sculptures on the Ruthwell cross in-
clude the Crucifixion, the Annunciation, Christ healing the blind man,
Christ and the Magdalene, and the Visitation on one side; on the other,
the flight into Egypt, SS. Paul and Anthony the hermits, breaking bread
in the desert, Christ worshipped by “beasts and dragons,” St John
Baptist, and the symbols of the evangelists. A third cross shaft, hardly
less remarkable, that of Acca, now at Durham, is accepted by Rivoira
as being of the eighth century. It is difficult for an English student
to understand why two should be taken away and the other left.
Saxon works of a different kind, but not less noteworthy, are the
silver Ormside cup, the celebrated Alfred jewel and the vestments of
Bishop Frithstan, now at Durham, which were embroidered at Winchester
about the year 912. It may be remembered that William of Malmes-
bury says that the daughters of Edward the Elder were skilful needle-
CH. XXI.
## p. 556 (#602) ############################################
556
Irish art
women, and it is not unlikely that these exquisite works came from this
royal school of art. It may be pointed out that one of the designs on
the Durham embroideries is the Right Hand of God. Now this same
device also appears on the Wessex coinage of Edward the Elder, and on
the sculptured Rood of Romsey Abbey, which probably filled the central
space on the west front of the church with figures of the Virgin and St
John on either hand of the Crucified Figure, above which the Hand
appears. A similar group, much defaced, may still be seen on the
west front of the little church at Hedbourne Worthy, close to
Winchester.
Anglo-Celtic art has been very much neglected, but in Great Britain
and Ireland we have an enormous number of sculptured monuments
which certainly have high interest for the history of art in Europe
during the dark ages. It may seem an extravagant claim, but if the
productions of the Anglian school are recognised, it will appear to be,
at its Northumbrian centre especially, the first Teutonic school of
Christian art. This is allowed for literature ; poems like Caedmon's were
not written in Gaul, but it has hardly even been suggested for sculpture,
metalwork, and other crafts. It is agreed that the later school formed
by Charlemagne became the centre for west European culture; yet, after
all, Charlemagne gathered up the Northumbrian traditions, and Alcuin
was but a follower of Wilfrid and Ceolfrid.
The Irish crosses are less competent in execution than the finest of
the Anglian works, and the same is true of other forms of Irish art.
The large number and the good preservation of the Irish crosses, however,
give them considerable importance. On them we find sculptures which
carry on the early Christian tradition in a very remarkable way. The
a
designs must, for the most part, have been copied from quite early painted
books of Eastern origin, and from ivories and other small works. The
subjects are of the Crucifixion, and of Christ the Judge, with many scenes
from the life and miracles of Christ, together with “ types " from the Old
Testament. Favourite types of Christ are the offering of Isaac, and
David protecting the sheep by slaying the lion. Over the Crucifixion
of a cross at Monasterboice is Moses with his uplifted arms supported
by two companions. The life of David as a type of Christ is given in
several scenes on some of the crosses. Another subject which occurs
very frequently is the meeting of SS. Anthony and Paul in the desert.
The ideals were clearly monastic, and those who had the crosses set up
looked reverently back to the hermits of the Egyptian desert.
Much in Carolingian Romanesque art was directly derived from
the Roman monuments; indeed, it must have been thought by Charle-
magne and his Court that Roman architecture was being continued just
as the Empire was being resumed. Romanesque, we may say, is “Holy
Roman architecture. " A letter of Einhard's exists, which was sent
together with an ivory model of a column shaped according to the rules
## p. 557 (#603) ############################################
Beginnings of Romanesque
557
a
a
of Vitruvius, and it is significant that the earliest existing text of
Vitruvius, the Harley MS. in the British Museum, is also Carolingian.
The doorway of Charles the Great's church at Aix-la-Chapelle, recently
exposed, has a large architrave of classical form. This doorway might
well be a work of the fourth century A. D. , and so might some of the bronze
doors, and the pine-cone fountain. The mouldings of the interior had
classical forms, and old Corinthian capitals, which were probably brought
from Italy, were re-used in the arches of the gallery storey. Of course
there was no thought of any archaeological distinction between what was
Roman and what was Byzantine; the great fact was that barbarism
took up the arts of civilisation, and it must have been thought that
Rome was being renewed by the efforts of Charlemagne. This Caro-
lingian Renaissance gives us an invaluable example of a conscious building
up
of a school of art.
In Italy many buildings, like the baptistery at Florence, shew a
deliberate attempt to be classical. In France, also, we meet with the
same intention. At Langres, once a Roman town, the fine cathedral
church (twelfth century) is wonderfully Roman in many particulars.
The buttresses between the chapels at the east end are in the form of
Auted Corinthian pilasters. In the interior the nave arches rise from
similar fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals; the triforium has fluted
pilasters rising to a horizontal string moulding; beneath is a bold band
of scroll carving of a classical type; and many of the columns have the
classical entasis. At Bourges, another Roman town, the elaborate
doorways of the north porch have finely carved lintels of scroll work
and foliage, which must have been practically copied from a Roman
original. At Autun the direct influence of the Roman gateway, which
is still standing, can be traced in the details of the cathedral. At
Arles, St Gilles, Le Puy, and in dozens of other places a similar trans-
ference from Roman prototypes is apparent in Romanesque architecture.
The Romanesque type of tower, with a low, square spire, with scale
ornaments cut into the sloping surfaces, must largely derive from the
late Roman tombs like those of Trèves above described. Even Roman
methods of construction, like concreted rubble walling, small facing
stones, and courses of tiles set in arches, persisted until the eleventh and
twelfth centuries.
The second great strain in Romanesque art was formed by the
constant inflow of eastern ideas and decorative objects, as well as of
monks and artists. After Justinian reconquered Italy, fragments of the
land remained dependencies of the Eastern Empire until the eighth cen-
tury. In Rome itself during this time Art became almost completely
Byzantinised. There are several beautiful Byzantine capitals and slabs
in Rome which were imported from Constantinople, and the round church
of St Theodore on the Palatine belongs to this time. Even a brick-
stamp of Pope John (A. D. 705) is inscribed with Greek letters.
CH. XXI.
## p. 558 (#604) ############################################
558
Sta Maria Antiqua
The monument which most clearly witnesses to the presence of the
East in the West is the church of Sta Maria Antiqua, excavated about
twenty years ago out of the débris at the foot of the Palatine Hill. It is in
the Forum, on the right in going to the Coliseum. It was an old
Roman building, which was transformed into a church early in the
seventh century, being a large, high hall having lateral chambers formed
into chapels. The walls were partly covered with a plating of marble,
and all the rest was adorned with paintings, which, for the most part,
are still in good condition. The paintings are inscribed mostly in Greek
with some Latin. A stone of the ambo had a bilingual inscription :
John Servant of the Theotokos. The art-types are obviously eastern,
and the saints depicted are both eastern and western. There are
paintings of the Crucifixion, the Majesty, the enthroned Virgin and
Child, the Annunciation, Nativity, Daniel in the Lions' Den, and many
others. In the apse of the chapel is a large figure of Christ between
two six-winged tetramorphs. The background of this subject is divided
into an upper portion painted black, and a lower part divided vertically
into four parts alternately red and green. The Crucifixion is very like
another in a Syrian book now at Florence. On either hand of the Cross
are the two soldiers, by one of whom is inscribed Longinus. On the Syrian
Gospel, which was written in 586 by the monk Rabula, the similar figure
of the soldier is named Aorinoc. The resemblances are altogether so
remarkable that it cannot be doubted that this very Syrian MS. or a
similar one was the direct source for the wall painting. It has been
already pointed out by Mr Dalton that a curious pattern which is found
at Sta Maria Antiqua, like a row of overlapping coins, occurs again also
in the Codex of Rossano, another book which is possibly of Syrian
origin, and it occurs again in a Syrian book at Paris. The coincidences are
so striking that it becomes evident that some oriental books must have
been directly used as the sources for the designs in the church. It has
often been pointed out that the mosaics of Sta Maria Maggiore must
have been drawn from some book of Genesis painted in the East.
Several of the mosaics in Ravenna follow a similar canon, and so again
do some fragmentary Genesis pictures in Sta Maria Antiqua itself.
Further, it has been proved by Tikkanen, as before mentioned, that the
Genesis mosaics at St Mark's, Venice, were accurately copied from the
Cotton Genesis, a book which almost certainly was painted in Alexandria
in the fifth century. In these instances we get examples of what was
happening all the time. Books from the East, especially ancient books,
were regarded as authorities; sacred designs were not made up at will,
but were handed forward as traditions. Doubts have been raised by
Ainalov as to whether the important Crucifixion picture of Rabula's
Gospel is not much later than the rest of the book, but the finding of
it repeated at Sta Maria Antiqua proves that it is probably at least as old
as the painting there. Other fragmentary paintings suggest that there
a
## p. 559 (#605) ############################################
Romanesque among the Teutons
559
was a series of subjects drawn from the New Testament with their
" types” from the Old Testament set against them. Now Bede tells us
categorically that a series of pictures representing such types was brought
from Rome by Benedict Biscop to adorn his monastery. Thus paintings,
embodying theological conceptions, originated in the East and were
carried to Northumbria. Already in the Rossano book Christ appears
as the Good Samaritan, who aids the traveller and carries him to the inn.
This is a conception which is fully worked out in the superb late twelfth
century stained glass window at Sens. In the painted book of Cosmas
the Indian traveller, a sixth century Alexandrian work, there are several
pairs of types, thus the Sacrifice of Isaac, the escape of Jonah from the
Whale, and the Translation of Elijah, typify the Crucifixion, Resurrec-
tion and the Ascension of Christ. All these types reappear on the
sculptures of the Irish crosse Of course such "types" are found in
the catacomb paintings, but in these the idea had not been systematised.
From the time of Charlemagne until the generation in which Gothic
architecture was to emerge, Germany led in the arts. This is less
obvious in architecture, but when the arts are considered as a whole it
must be admitted. The carved ivories of the Carolingian school form
a magnificent series, and the metal-work, enamels and manuscripts are
as noteworthy. If we regard all the splendid works of art wrought in
North Italy, Germany, North France and England, we may see that the
Romanesque was an essentially Teutonic movement. The Gothic
arose in France when the people had been sufficiently saturated with the
new Romance spirit. The Romanesque looked back to Rome and By-
zantium, the Gothic faced forward to the new world. The French
kingdom was born while Gothic architecture was being formed.
Until the beginning of the twelfth century the centres of Romanesque
art were in the neighbourhood of the lower Rhine and in Lombardy.
The most advanced piece of figure art wrought early in the twelfth
century is the noble bronze font now at Liège, the work of an artist of
Huy. This has completely shaken off barbarism, it is clear and sweet
in expression, the sort of thing we should like to call modern if modern
people could rise to it. A study of the bronze works at Hildesheim,
wrought under the direction of the great Bishop Bernward, shews that
the bronze workers of Huy derived their traditions from the artists of
Hildesheim, as those doubtless followed the men who worked for Charle-
magne at Aix two centuries earlier still.
At Hildesheim the doors
and the celebrated bronze column were made about the
1075. On
the square base of the latter are little figures of the four rivers of
Paradise. This may remind us of the bronze pine cone at Aix which
has the names of the rivers of Eden inscribed on its four sides. The
four rivers occur again on a most beautiful bronze font of the thirteenth
century in the cathedral. Again, on the bronze column there is a group
of people listening to Christ, which is plainly the prototype of another
year
CH. XXI.
## p. 560 (#606) ############################################
560
Architecture after Charlemagne
group on the Liège font. Thus the traditions of the bronze workers
were handed on to Dinant, which in turn inherited from Huy and
became the chief European centre for bronze working.
It is impossible here to give a separate account of the many
Romanesque schools of art, or even of architecture, which flourished
between the Carolingian Renaissance and the emergence of Gothic art
in the twelfth century. In Italy, Germany, and France there was
constant effort and practically continuous development towards one un-
foreseen end, the formation of the highly specialised type of art which
we call Gothic. All three countries contributed valuable ideas to the
commonwealth of art and continuously reacted on one another. The
master impulse in architecture was that by which the builders set them-
selves to explore the possibilities of vaulting and the interaction between
vaulting and planning. This may have been brought about in part by
the desire to guard against fire, but it was fed by the gradual spread of
Byzantine customs over the West.
In western Europe during the Carolingian age the churches were
planned in various forms. The central type of plan, varieties of which
are the circle, the polygon and the equal-armed cross, is represented by
the Palatine chapel at Aix-la-Chapelle. St Germigny, near Orleans,
is a square with apses projecting on every side. The large abbey church
of St Croix, Quimperlé, of the eleventh century, is circular with square
projections in the four directions.
Simple churches of this fashion were built in England. At Hexham
one of these was built by Wilfrid, and King Alfred built another at
Athelney. Several later Saxon churches had a big tower forming the
body of the structure with an apse opening from its east side and another
extension towards the west; such “tower churches" must have been simpli-
fications of the central type. The close association of the central tower,
the western version of the Byzantine dome, with the idea of the church has
not been fully worked out, but it led to a general insistence on the central
tower, or lantern, in Romanesque churches. Beneath these towers, at the
crossing of the central span and the transepts, the choirs were placed.
The monk Reginald, one of the Durham chroniclers, describes the
“White Church” (the cathedral) at Durham built by Bishop Aldhun in
1099 thus: “There were in the White Church, in which St Cuthbert had
first rested, two stone towers, as those who saw them have told us, standing
high into the air, the one containing the choir, the other standing at the
west end of the church, which was of wonderful size. They carried brazen
pinnacles set up on top, which aroused both the amazement of all men
and great admiration. ” The still earlier abbey church at Ramsey, built
about 970, was cruciform with a central tower, and at the west end a
smaller tower. Again, when in the description of the Confessor's church
at Westminster we are told that the domus principalis arae was of great
height, it possibly means the choir with the lantern tower, and that the
## p. 561 (#607) ############################################
Plans of churches
561
actual site of the altar in the apse of the eastern limb was considered as
attached to this dominating central feature. In some later Romanesque
churches in France, as at Issoire, Clermont, and elsewhere, parts of the
transept on either side of the lantern tower are lifted above the general
body of the work, thus adding to the importance of the central structure.
A central tower seems a more or less obvious arrangement, as a matter
of design, where it rises at the centre of a cruciform plan, and it has
sometimes been explained as a device for simplifying the intersection of
the roofs. Several Norman churches, however, like the one at Iffley,
have a tower rising over the choir of a long, simple, unaisled church, a
little to the east of the middle of its length. Here again the tower is as
typically the church as the hall is the house.
The central type of plan persisted also in palace chapels. Charle-
magne's chapel was repeated at the palace of Nimeguen near the mouth
of the Rhine. The palace of Goslar has a chapel with a plan resembling
that of St Germigny mentioned above. William of Malmesbury has a
curious note to the effect that a cathedral church built at Hereford at
the end of the eleventh century was copied from the church at Aix.
In the forest of Loches is a royal chapel, built in the reign of Henry II,
which is circular in form. At the palace of Woodstock was another cir-
cular chapel, and a Norman chapel at Ludlow castle, which still exists,
is also of this form. The English circular and polygonal chapter-houses
of cathedrals, of which that at Worcester is a Norman example, must
either have been adopted from such circular chapels or from the baptis-
teries of some of the old Saxon cathedrals. There seems to have been
such a baptistery at Canterbury, and we are told that it was used for
meetings as well as for its primary purpose.
The transepts of a church were an obvious means of enlarging the
interior space, and as they gave a symbolic form to the plan they became
normal parts of Romanesque structure. Sometimes they were of single
span, at others they had one or two aisles, and from their eastern sides
projected chapels, usually apses. Another type of Carolingian plan had
apses at both ends of the main span. A ninth century drawing for the
plan of the monastery at St Gall is of this form. And this arrangement
was for long a favourite one in Germany. It doubtless conformed to
ritual requirements. In England the Saxon cathedral at Canterbury
and the abbey church at Ramsbury were of this type.
A plan which persisted longer was one with three parallel apses at
the east end, the larger apse terminating the central space being Hanked
by two others at the end of the side aisles. This form of church early
became the usual one in Normandy. The abbey church at Bernay,
built c. 920, had transepts, and three parallel apses to the east. This
plan was again repeated in the great abbey church at Jumièges, which
was itself copied by Edward the Confessor for his fine new church in the
Norman manner, built at Westminster from about 1050. Some remnants
C. MED. H. VOL. III. CH, XXI.
36
## p. 562 (#608) ############################################
562
Galleries, porches and crypts
of it which still exist are enough to shew that the plan was a very accu-
rate copy of its prototype, so much so, that it appears that Norman
workmen must have been brought here to do it.
The same tradition
was followed at Durham, Lincoln, and many other important churches.
Both Westminster and Jumièges had vestibules and triforium storeys ;
these were old customary features which tended to disappear. Charle-
magne's church at Aix has a fine vaulted gallery over the aisle which
surrounds the central space: and we are told of the Confessor's church
at Westminster that there were, both above and below, chapels dedi-
cated to the saints. In such cases the triforium evidently fulfilled a
function. Later it became a mere formal survival, although the triforium
of the later church at Westminster was probably used for the great con-
gregations at coronations. Many of the German Romanesque churches
have structural galleries at the sides of the choir, and many Norman
churches had galleries at the ends of the transepts. At Canterbury,
Lincoln and Christ Church the transepts seem to have had upper storeys
over their whole extent, forming chapels. Vestibules mentioned above
must represent the narthex of Eastern churches. The church of St
Remi at Rheims had in the tenth century a vaulted work which occupied
nearly half the nave. Immense vaulted porches still exist at Vézelay,
St Benoît-sur-Loire and other places, and the tradition of a western
porch has left its mark on some of the English Romanesque churches, as
Ely and Lincoln. In Germany the western bay was usually carried up
higher than the nave roof between two western towers, making thus an
impressive west end externally.
Quite generally crypts were also constructed beneath the choirs of
Romanesque churches ; deriving from the early confessio beneath the
altar, they frequently became of great size. Often, in the German and
Lombard churches, they were but little buried in the ground, but the
eastern limbs of the churches were raised high above them, and
approached by many steps. This arrangement is often very dignified
and impressive. A great seven-branched candlestick usually stood in the
middle of the platform beyond the steps. Many of the German Roman-
esque churches had rounded ends to the transepts as well as to the
eastern limb, the crossing being thus surrounded by three apsidal projec-
tions. This is a well-known Byzantine type, and St Mary in the Capitol
at Cologne, is an early and noble example in the West; Tournai
cathedral is another. This form of plan was handed on to the early
Gothic of North France, at Noyon and Soissons, and it persisted long in
Germany. The thirteenth century church at Marburg has similar semi-
octagonal apses in three directions, a short nave, no longer than the
transepts, and a chapel at each of the four re-entering angles. It is prac-
tically a church of the central type, and is certainly a very beautiful plan.
Another very beautiful scheme of planning is found in a church at
Angers, which has a wide vaulted nave extended and supported by a
## p. 563 (#609) ############################################
Apses, towers and vaults
563
series of large apsidal recesses or chapels along each side. This type is
again followed at Orvieto cathedral.
The most perfect plan for a great church would seem to be that in
which the central eastern apse is surrounded by an ambulatory from
which small circular-ended chapels open out-one, three, four, five or
seven. This is the plan which was adopted in the main line of progress
into Gothic, and it continued to be used right through the Middle Ages.
This fine scheme probably dates from Carolingian days, and three
important churches, at Tours, Dijon and Le Mans, were built in this
form at the end of the tenth century. Churches of the same type were
built in England, first for the abbey of St Augustine, Canterbury, and
the cathedrals of Winchester and Gloucester, during the last quarter of
the eleventh century. An apse was an essential member of a great church
during the Romanesque period. In its centre the bishop had his throne
lifted high above the altar as ruler of the assembly; this broken rem-
nants at Norwich still shew. The planning of a great church implied the
dealing with several common factors which might be variously combined,
The nave might be one, or three, or five spans wide ; there might be a
transept of one, two, or three spans, and the eastern limb might have a
simple apse, or parallel apses, or an ambulatory and a series of radiating
chapels. The position of towers was another factor to be considered.
Their positions were partly, doubtless, a matter of choice, but largely they
were conditioned by structural requirements. A great single tower at
the west end, as at Ely, will stop the thrusts of the inner arcading as
well as the more usual pair of towers. In French churches towers were
frequently put at the transepts also, and Winchester cathedral seems to
have been intended to have transeptal towers. In Germany towers are
often seen on either side of the apse. At Tournai four towers built
around the crossing against the transepts support the central lantern,
making a most impressive group of five spire-capped towers. At Exeter
two massive towers stand over small square transepts. A third great
controlling factor in the design of churches was that of vaulting. The
possibilities of rearing vaults were explored in all sorts of ways. All
three spans might have barrel vaults, or those over the aisles might be
quadrants rising higher against the nave than where they fell on the
aisle walls. The bays might be vaulted transversely, a favourite device
in Burgundy, or they might be covered by a combination of longitudinal
and transverse vaults interpenetrating and forming“ groined” vaults.
This last became the standard form for the vaults of churches in north-
western Europe, and the tradition was carried forward into Gothic.
The use of this scheme allowed of high windows in every bay, and con-
centrated the thrusts at intervals above the piers of the inner arcades.
One school of French Romanesque experimented with a series of domes
covering square compartments, and the curious church at Loches has its
nave covered by stone pyramidal erections like low pitched spires. It
OH. XXI.
36-2
## p. 564 (#610) ############################################
564
Beginnings of Gothic
a
has hardly been realised how many of the greater “Norman” churches
in England were vaulted, especially their eastern limbs and transepts.
The eastern limb of the great abbey church of St Albans, begun about
ten years after the Conquest, was vaulted. Durham and Lincoln cathe-
drals were vaulted throughout, by the middle of the twelfth century.
The abbey churches of Gloucester, Pershore and Tewkesbury all seem to
have had vaulted choirs and transepts; so probably had Canterbury
cathedral, Winchester cathedral, St Paul's cathedral, Reading abbey
and Lewes priory churches and many others. Frequently the nave was
covered with a wooden ceiling while the eastern half of the church was
vaulted. At Peterborough such a ceiling, delightfully decorated with
bold pattern-work, still exists. This church and others had such ceilings
throughout. The “ glorious choir” at Canterbury had a specially famous
painted ceiling. It is noteworthy that even in quite small churches the
chancels were frequently covered with vaults, while the rest of the struc-
ture had wooden roofs.
Many modifications were made in the planning of great churches to
accommodate the vaults, and a remarkable contrivance became common
towards the end of the twelfth century for the purpose of supporting the
high central vaults. This was the flying buttress, a strong arch built in
the open air, rising from the lower walls of the aisles, and butting against
those of the clerestory. Such buttresses were greatly developed in
Gothic architecture, but their invention is due to Romanesque builders.
Another great invention, which was of primary importance for the
development of Gothic, seems to have been made towards the end of the
eleventh century. This was the method of erecting vaults by first
building a series of skeleton arches (ribs) diagonally across each bay,
and then covering this subdivided space with a lighter web of work. In
England the method was used at Durham, and this is the first well-
authenticated instance in the west of Europe. Other examples, which
are said to be earlier, are known in Italy.
The general movement, which was to pass over an invisible frontier
into what we call Gothic architecture, was characterised by a search for
more vigorous and clear solutions of structural problems, a gathering up
of the wall masses into piers and buttresses and the vaults into ribs.
The whole medieval process in architecture from, say, the time of
Charlemagne to the time of the Black Death, was an organic develop-
ment. One phase in the progress may be traced in the tendency to
break up piers and arches into a series of recessed orders or members;
that is, they widen by degrees in a step-like profile. This held the germ
of the change from a square pier set in the direction of the wall into one
placed diagonally. Such membering of arches and piers easily led to
sub-arching, that is, the including of two or more smaller arches under
a larger one; and this again was to lead up to the development of
tracery. The process also early shewed itself in a liking for alternation.
## p. 565 (#611) ############################################
Arches, cusps and glass
565
A nave arcade, for instance, was often planned with a more or less
square pier and then a column alternately. In some German churches
square piers alternately wider and narrower may be seen.
The pointed arch has been known from time immemorial. It was
generally adopted by Saracen builders from the seventh century, and it
became well known in the West from the eleventh. It proved especially
useful in adjusting the many difficulties which arose in applying vaulting
to compartments of various sizes and shapes. And further, it was used
as a strong structural form before it was generally admitted into the
architectural code. Thus, as ever, the aesthetic delight of one century
was found in the structural device of an earlier one.
The cusping of arches fell in with the general tendency toward sub-
ordination and grouping. The cusped arch had a distant origin in the
shell forms carved in the arched heads of the niches, which were common
in Hellenistic architecture. Byzantine and Arab builders simplified the
scalloped edge of this shell into a series of small lobes set within the
containing arch. Such cusped arches were passed on to the North-West
by the Moors. The special centre for their distribution seems to have
been the south-east of France, where the delight in cusped arches is very
noticeable at Clermont, Vienne and Le Puy. The forms of trefoiled
arches appear in the North as early as the tenth century in the ornaments
of illuminated books, and probably they were handed on in this pictorial
form long before they entered into real structures. Architecture and
sculpture often followed where painting led. Circular windows had been
used by the Romans and are frequently found in Romanesque work.
Both circular and quatrefoil openings were probably known in the West
from Carolingian days. The quatrefoil became popular as a form of
Ordinary windows, when grouped into pairs with a circle above,
formed the point of departure for the development of the traceried window.
From the early days of Christian art glazing of various colours
arranged in patterns had been used. Doubtless the beautifully patterned
casements of Arab art were, like so much else, taken over from the
Byzantine school. The jewelled lattices of Romance must have been
suggested by the use of coloured glass. At some time in the great
Carolingian era, which we are only now beginning to appreciate, painting
was added to the morsels of coloured glass, and they were joined together
by thin strips of lead rather than by some ruder means. These two steps
of development brought into being the stained glass window proper.
From th time windows were conceived as vast translucent enamels of
which the leads formed the divisions. The agreement of style between
the earliest known stained glass windows and Romanesque enamels is so
close that we may not doubt the near kindred of the two arts. The
earliest windows still extant, like those of St Denis (c. 1140-50), were
probably designed by some enameller.
For long the style of German Byzantine enamels may be traced in
cross.
OH. XXI.
## p. 566 (#612) ############################################
566
Imagery and Colour
the glass of Le Mans, Chartres, and Strasbourg, and for the most part
the code of imagery had been worked out by enamel-workers and
illuminators of books before it was adopted for stained glass.
There was a great expansion in the production of sculpture and its
application to architecture during the twelfth century, and an enormous
increase of power in dealing with it. Here again, however, all the great
types and traditions of treatment seem to have been invented or rather
developed by the Carolingian schools. For instance, there are two
delightful small impersonations of Land and Sea carved amongst the
early Gothic sculptures of the west front of Notre Dame at Paris.
Such impersonations derive directly from Romanesque ivories and
illuminated books of the German school and thence may be traced to
Alexandrian art. In the Carolingian age imagery had, for the most
.
part, been on a small scale, in metal-work and ivory, but some of it had
been of great beauty in conception and of masterly execution. By the
middle of the twelfth century several notable schools of architectural
sculpture had been developed in Italy, France, and Spain. In England
beginnings were made towards the development of what became a
special English tradition; the west front treated as a background for
an array of sculptured figures having reference to the Last Judgment.
Some remnants found at York and others extant at Lincoln are evidence
for this.
Sculpture, stained glass, and the large schemes of painting which
covered the interiors of Romanesque churches, were very largely inspired
by painted books. These illuminated volumes are almost the most
wonderful products of the whole Romanesque period. What the book
of Kells is to Irish art, and the Lindisfarne book to the Anglo-Celtic
school of Northumbria, is well known. Several superb Carolingian
volumes are just as remarkable, and this pre-eminence of the book was
sustained until the end of our period. Some hundred splendid books
and rolls written and painted in the twelfth century are marvels of
thoughtful invention and skilful manipulation. At this time types and
symbols were still dealt with in the great manner; many of the designers
at work seem to have had the imagination of Blake with ten times his
power of execution. For example, take the designs of an “Exultet "
roll in the British Museum; the first painting is Christ majestically
enthroned; then comes a group of rejoicing angels; then the interior
of a basilica shewn in section with nave and aisles and in the midst a
colossal Mater Ecclesia standing between groups of clergy and people ;
the next is Mother Earth, a woman's figure half emerging from the
ground, nourishing an ox and a dragon ; further on is the Crucifixion
with its “ type,” the passage of the Red Sea ; and near the end, after a
flower garden with bees, the Virgin and Holy Child. This appears to
be an Italian work of the middle of the twelfth century.
The artists of Charlemagne made use of mosaic in large schemes of
## p. 567 (#613) ############################################
Mosaics and painting
567
decoration. The vault, an octagonal dome in form, over the central
area of the palace chapel at Aix-la-Chapelle was covered by a simple but
splendid design of the sort which modern designers find it so hard to
imitate. The first rapture of all these things can never be recovered.
On a starry ground was set a great Figure of the throned Majesty, and
beneath were the twenty-four elders forming a band around the base of
the dome. The ancient church of St Germigny in France still has in
its apse a mosaic of rather crude workmanship but similar in ability of
design. Here two colossal cherubim with expanded wings guard the
ark of the New Covenant, and above in the centre is the Right Hand of
God. The floor of the chapel at Aix was also covered with coarse
mosaic, and mosaic floors were common in the Romanesque churches of
Germany, Lombardy and France. The mosaics of both walls and floors
in Italy are too many and too well known to require mention. In
France one or two floor mosaics still remain. The most perfect one is in
the church of Lescar in the south. This was laid down in 1115. Two
panels are preserved in the Cluny Museum of the beautiful mosaic floor
of the abbey church of St Denis (c. 1150).
The internal walls and ceilings of Romanesque churches were (by
custom) painted entirely with scriptural pictures and large single figures
of saints, all set out according to traditional modes of arrangement and
with schemes of teaching. In Germany several large churches retain, in
a more or less restored condition, an almost complete series of such
paintings. One of the most notable is the basilican church at Brunswick.
But the most striking of all is, probably, the church at Hildesheim,
where the flat boarded ceiling is entirely occupied by an enormous
Jesse-tree, the ramifying branches of which spread over the whole nave.
In Italy many painted churches of Romanesque date still exist, as, for
instance, the church of San Pietro a Grado near Pisa. In France the
church of St Savin has preserved its paintings most completely. Here,
and in the many traces of paintings in a Byzantine tradition which are
to be found on the walls and vaults of the cathedral of Le Puy, may be
seen sufficient evidence to suggest what the idea of interior architectural
painting was during the Romanesque epoch. A Romanesque church
was intended to be as fully adorned with paintings as was a Byzantine
church, and, indeed, the traditions of the two schools flowed very much
in a common stream from one source. It was the same in England, as is
shewn by fragments at Pickering, St Albans, Norwich, Ely, Romsey,
Canterbury, and other places. We probably think of our “Norman”
churches as rude and melancholy, but if we picture for ourselves all the
colour suggested by the fragmentary evidences which exist, and furnish
again by imagination the vistas of the interior with their great coronae
of lights, the gilded roods, and embossed altar-pieces, the astonishing
nature of these vast and splendid works will fill our minds with some-
what saddening reflections. Archaeology is no minister to pride.
CH, XXI.
## p. 568 (#614) ############################################
## p. 569 (#615) ############################################
569
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OF TITLES
OF PERIODICALS, SOCIETIES, ETC.
vol. 1.
(1) The following abbreviations are used for titles of periodicals :
AB. Analecta Bollandiana. Brussels.
AHR. American Historical Review. New York and London.
AKKR. Archiv für katholisches Kirchenrecht. Mayence.
AM. Annales du Midi. Toulouse.
AMur. Archivio Muratoriano. Rome.
Ang. Anglia. Zeitschrift für englische Philologie. Halle a. S. 1878 ff.
Arch. Ven. Archivio veneto. Venice, 1871-90, continued as Nuovo archivio veneto.
Venice. 1891 ff.
ASAK. Anzeiger für schweizerische Alterthumskunde. Zurich.
ASHF. Annuaire-Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de France. Paris.
ASI. Archivio storico italiano. Florence. Ser. 1. 20 v. and App. 9 v. 1842–53.
Index. 1857. Ser. nuova. 18 v. 1855–63. Ser. III. 26'v. 1865-77.
culture of the time when Wilfrid and Benedict Biscop built churches and
formed monastic libraries, and when Bede wrote his famous history.
Some remnants of Wilfrid's churches yet remain, and Bede tells us how
they were decorated by paintings forming a consistent series of Biblical
CH. XXI.
## p. 554 (#600) ############################################
554
Roman influence in England
types and story. These paintings were brought from Rome, and the
fortunate discovery of the painted walls of Sta Maria Antiqua in that
city, which were decorated by Greek artists just at the time that Benedict
Biscop was making his collection, suggests very clearly what these
pictures must have been like. It cannot be doubted that they were
of eastern origin. Many works of art, which we still fortunately possess,
have been attributed to the same age, but some of them are so remark-
able as compared with other works of that time on the Continent that
Commendatore Rivoira and Professor Cook of Yale have argued with
great detail that they could not have been produced at that time. At
Ruthwell and Bewcastle, on either side of the Scottish border, are the
shafts of two tall standing crosses elaborately sculptured with figures and
pattern-work, with long inscriptions in runes, and, in the case of
Ruthwell, with Latin inscriptions as well.
inscriptions as well. Rivoira, approaching the
question from the Italian point of view, and with a wide knowledge of
European art, would assign them to the twelfth century, and Professor
Cook argues that they were probably erected by King David of Scotland
about 11401.
These noble cross shafts, however, are only the most famous of a large
class of monuments of more or less the same type, which must belong to
about the same period. If they have to be dated in the twelfth century, the
Irish crosses also, as is recognised by the critics just named, cannot be
earlier. Such a scheme in all its implications would make a tremendous
alteration in British archaeology. On the other hand, the early dates of
some of the Saxon works are so firmly established that they cannot even
be attacked. Such are large numbers of early Saxon coins, some of which
bear devices analogous to the decorations of the crosses, while others,
like the coins of Offa, have fine heads. Others, again, like a coin of
Peada, have runes of similar form to those on the crosses. If a selection
of such coins was published in comparison with the crosses, much that
has been said as to the improbability of the early date of these would
have to be ruled out. We also possess the splendid illuminated text
written and decorated at Lindisfarne very early in the eighth century,
with its braided ornamentation, symbols of the four evangelists, and
other designs which closely resemble the ornament and symbols on the
crosses. There is also the noble Codex Amiatinus, once owned by Abbot
Ceolfrid, and taken with him as a present for the Pope when he left
England for Rome in 716, which has some points of resemblance. It has
further been shewn that the Latin inscriptions, which describe the sculp-
tures on the Ruthwell Cross, are in an alphabet of a semi-Irish character
resembling the letters of the Lindisfarne book, while the runic inscrip-
tion of this cross contains a version of the old English poem on the
Dream of the Holy Rood, which Dr Bradley attributes to the authorship
of Caedmon. Another monument, the date of which has not been
1 See Baldwin Brown, G. , The Arts in Early England, Vol. v. 1921.
а
## p. 555 (#601) ############################################
The English crosses
555
attacked, is the shrine of St Cuthbert now at Durham, which is recorded
to have been made in 698. Some designs incised on it, which include
figures of Christ, angels, and apostles, together with symbols of the
ev gelists, a cross and inscriptions, are again singularly like the designs
found
upon the two great cross shafts. The runes on the Bewcastle
cross formed a memorial inscription, which is terribly decayed, and
doubt is cast on the readings, first made in 1856, by which it appeared
that it was set up to Alchfrid, son of Oswy, about the year 670. On
the other hand, the name Cyneburh, which was the name of Alchfrid's
wife, has often been read by many independent observers, including
Kemble, in 1840. Even the presence of the name Alchfrid is admitted
by Viator, the Runic scholar, but Professor Cook claims that the form
is feminine and cannot apply to Alchfrid. Thus the question stands for
the moment, but when, by comparative illustration, it has been shewn
that the objection to the early date of the art of these wonderful monu-
ments must fall to the ground, then we may anticipate that much of the
opposition to the interpretation of the runes will also disappear. At the
least the certain name of Cyneburh will be given its due weight. The
present writer has no doubt at all that these crosses were set up by a
powerful Northumbrian ruler in the seventh century. Professor Cook even
expresses a doubt as to whether these shafts were parts of crosses at all,
which to English scholars will seem like doubting whether a torn volume
was ever a book: His work, however, is valuable as stating the case
for the extremist reaction. In regard to the sculptures on the Ruthwell
cross, it has been shewn that they have affinities with the subjects on the
Byzantine ivory throne at Ravenna, which was probably made in Alex-
andria, and with some Coptic works. Now the second half of the
seventh century was exactly the time when Rome itself had become
almost completely Byzantinised. The church of Sta Maria Antiqua, before
mentioned, belongs to this time. It is no accident that it was just at
this moment that a Greek from Tarsus, Theodore by name, became
Archbishop of Canterbury. The sculptures on the Ruthwell cross in-
clude the Crucifixion, the Annunciation, Christ healing the blind man,
Christ and the Magdalene, and the Visitation on one side; on the other,
the flight into Egypt, SS. Paul and Anthony the hermits, breaking bread
in the desert, Christ worshipped by “beasts and dragons,” St John
Baptist, and the symbols of the evangelists. A third cross shaft, hardly
less remarkable, that of Acca, now at Durham, is accepted by Rivoira
as being of the eighth century. It is difficult for an English student
to understand why two should be taken away and the other left.
Saxon works of a different kind, but not less noteworthy, are the
silver Ormside cup, the celebrated Alfred jewel and the vestments of
Bishop Frithstan, now at Durham, which were embroidered at Winchester
about the year 912. It may be remembered that William of Malmes-
bury says that the daughters of Edward the Elder were skilful needle-
CH. XXI.
## p. 556 (#602) ############################################
556
Irish art
women, and it is not unlikely that these exquisite works came from this
royal school of art. It may be pointed out that one of the designs on
the Durham embroideries is the Right Hand of God. Now this same
device also appears on the Wessex coinage of Edward the Elder, and on
the sculptured Rood of Romsey Abbey, which probably filled the central
space on the west front of the church with figures of the Virgin and St
John on either hand of the Crucified Figure, above which the Hand
appears. A similar group, much defaced, may still be seen on the
west front of the little church at Hedbourne Worthy, close to
Winchester.
Anglo-Celtic art has been very much neglected, but in Great Britain
and Ireland we have an enormous number of sculptured monuments
which certainly have high interest for the history of art in Europe
during the dark ages. It may seem an extravagant claim, but if the
productions of the Anglian school are recognised, it will appear to be,
at its Northumbrian centre especially, the first Teutonic school of
Christian art. This is allowed for literature ; poems like Caedmon's were
not written in Gaul, but it has hardly even been suggested for sculpture,
metalwork, and other crafts. It is agreed that the later school formed
by Charlemagne became the centre for west European culture; yet, after
all, Charlemagne gathered up the Northumbrian traditions, and Alcuin
was but a follower of Wilfrid and Ceolfrid.
The Irish crosses are less competent in execution than the finest of
the Anglian works, and the same is true of other forms of Irish art.
The large number and the good preservation of the Irish crosses, however,
give them considerable importance. On them we find sculptures which
carry on the early Christian tradition in a very remarkable way. The
a
designs must, for the most part, have been copied from quite early painted
books of Eastern origin, and from ivories and other small works. The
subjects are of the Crucifixion, and of Christ the Judge, with many scenes
from the life and miracles of Christ, together with “ types " from the Old
Testament. Favourite types of Christ are the offering of Isaac, and
David protecting the sheep by slaying the lion. Over the Crucifixion
of a cross at Monasterboice is Moses with his uplifted arms supported
by two companions. The life of David as a type of Christ is given in
several scenes on some of the crosses. Another subject which occurs
very frequently is the meeting of SS. Anthony and Paul in the desert.
The ideals were clearly monastic, and those who had the crosses set up
looked reverently back to the hermits of the Egyptian desert.
Much in Carolingian Romanesque art was directly derived from
the Roman monuments; indeed, it must have been thought by Charle-
magne and his Court that Roman architecture was being continued just
as the Empire was being resumed. Romanesque, we may say, is “Holy
Roman architecture. " A letter of Einhard's exists, which was sent
together with an ivory model of a column shaped according to the rules
## p. 557 (#603) ############################################
Beginnings of Romanesque
557
a
a
of Vitruvius, and it is significant that the earliest existing text of
Vitruvius, the Harley MS. in the British Museum, is also Carolingian.
The doorway of Charles the Great's church at Aix-la-Chapelle, recently
exposed, has a large architrave of classical form. This doorway might
well be a work of the fourth century A. D. , and so might some of the bronze
doors, and the pine-cone fountain. The mouldings of the interior had
classical forms, and old Corinthian capitals, which were probably brought
from Italy, were re-used in the arches of the gallery storey. Of course
there was no thought of any archaeological distinction between what was
Roman and what was Byzantine; the great fact was that barbarism
took up the arts of civilisation, and it must have been thought that
Rome was being renewed by the efforts of Charlemagne. This Caro-
lingian Renaissance gives us an invaluable example of a conscious building
up
of a school of art.
In Italy many buildings, like the baptistery at Florence, shew a
deliberate attempt to be classical. In France, also, we meet with the
same intention. At Langres, once a Roman town, the fine cathedral
church (twelfth century) is wonderfully Roman in many particulars.
The buttresses between the chapels at the east end are in the form of
Auted Corinthian pilasters. In the interior the nave arches rise from
similar fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals; the triforium has fluted
pilasters rising to a horizontal string moulding; beneath is a bold band
of scroll carving of a classical type; and many of the columns have the
classical entasis. At Bourges, another Roman town, the elaborate
doorways of the north porch have finely carved lintels of scroll work
and foliage, which must have been practically copied from a Roman
original. At Autun the direct influence of the Roman gateway, which
is still standing, can be traced in the details of the cathedral. At
Arles, St Gilles, Le Puy, and in dozens of other places a similar trans-
ference from Roman prototypes is apparent in Romanesque architecture.
The Romanesque type of tower, with a low, square spire, with scale
ornaments cut into the sloping surfaces, must largely derive from the
late Roman tombs like those of Trèves above described. Even Roman
methods of construction, like concreted rubble walling, small facing
stones, and courses of tiles set in arches, persisted until the eleventh and
twelfth centuries.
The second great strain in Romanesque art was formed by the
constant inflow of eastern ideas and decorative objects, as well as of
monks and artists. After Justinian reconquered Italy, fragments of the
land remained dependencies of the Eastern Empire until the eighth cen-
tury. In Rome itself during this time Art became almost completely
Byzantinised. There are several beautiful Byzantine capitals and slabs
in Rome which were imported from Constantinople, and the round church
of St Theodore on the Palatine belongs to this time. Even a brick-
stamp of Pope John (A. D. 705) is inscribed with Greek letters.
CH. XXI.
## p. 558 (#604) ############################################
558
Sta Maria Antiqua
The monument which most clearly witnesses to the presence of the
East in the West is the church of Sta Maria Antiqua, excavated about
twenty years ago out of the débris at the foot of the Palatine Hill. It is in
the Forum, on the right in going to the Coliseum. It was an old
Roman building, which was transformed into a church early in the
seventh century, being a large, high hall having lateral chambers formed
into chapels. The walls were partly covered with a plating of marble,
and all the rest was adorned with paintings, which, for the most part,
are still in good condition. The paintings are inscribed mostly in Greek
with some Latin. A stone of the ambo had a bilingual inscription :
John Servant of the Theotokos. The art-types are obviously eastern,
and the saints depicted are both eastern and western. There are
paintings of the Crucifixion, the Majesty, the enthroned Virgin and
Child, the Annunciation, Nativity, Daniel in the Lions' Den, and many
others. In the apse of the chapel is a large figure of Christ between
two six-winged tetramorphs. The background of this subject is divided
into an upper portion painted black, and a lower part divided vertically
into four parts alternately red and green. The Crucifixion is very like
another in a Syrian book now at Florence. On either hand of the Cross
are the two soldiers, by one of whom is inscribed Longinus. On the Syrian
Gospel, which was written in 586 by the monk Rabula, the similar figure
of the soldier is named Aorinoc. The resemblances are altogether so
remarkable that it cannot be doubted that this very Syrian MS. or a
similar one was the direct source for the wall painting. It has been
already pointed out by Mr Dalton that a curious pattern which is found
at Sta Maria Antiqua, like a row of overlapping coins, occurs again also
in the Codex of Rossano, another book which is possibly of Syrian
origin, and it occurs again in a Syrian book at Paris. The coincidences are
so striking that it becomes evident that some oriental books must have
been directly used as the sources for the designs in the church. It has
often been pointed out that the mosaics of Sta Maria Maggiore must
have been drawn from some book of Genesis painted in the East.
Several of the mosaics in Ravenna follow a similar canon, and so again
do some fragmentary Genesis pictures in Sta Maria Antiqua itself.
Further, it has been proved by Tikkanen, as before mentioned, that the
Genesis mosaics at St Mark's, Venice, were accurately copied from the
Cotton Genesis, a book which almost certainly was painted in Alexandria
in the fifth century. In these instances we get examples of what was
happening all the time. Books from the East, especially ancient books,
were regarded as authorities; sacred designs were not made up at will,
but were handed forward as traditions. Doubts have been raised by
Ainalov as to whether the important Crucifixion picture of Rabula's
Gospel is not much later than the rest of the book, but the finding of
it repeated at Sta Maria Antiqua proves that it is probably at least as old
as the painting there. Other fragmentary paintings suggest that there
a
## p. 559 (#605) ############################################
Romanesque among the Teutons
559
was a series of subjects drawn from the New Testament with their
" types” from the Old Testament set against them. Now Bede tells us
categorically that a series of pictures representing such types was brought
from Rome by Benedict Biscop to adorn his monastery. Thus paintings,
embodying theological conceptions, originated in the East and were
carried to Northumbria. Already in the Rossano book Christ appears
as the Good Samaritan, who aids the traveller and carries him to the inn.
This is a conception which is fully worked out in the superb late twelfth
century stained glass window at Sens. In the painted book of Cosmas
the Indian traveller, a sixth century Alexandrian work, there are several
pairs of types, thus the Sacrifice of Isaac, the escape of Jonah from the
Whale, and the Translation of Elijah, typify the Crucifixion, Resurrec-
tion and the Ascension of Christ. All these types reappear on the
sculptures of the Irish crosse Of course such "types" are found in
the catacomb paintings, but in these the idea had not been systematised.
From the time of Charlemagne until the generation in which Gothic
architecture was to emerge, Germany led in the arts. This is less
obvious in architecture, but when the arts are considered as a whole it
must be admitted. The carved ivories of the Carolingian school form
a magnificent series, and the metal-work, enamels and manuscripts are
as noteworthy. If we regard all the splendid works of art wrought in
North Italy, Germany, North France and England, we may see that the
Romanesque was an essentially Teutonic movement. The Gothic
arose in France when the people had been sufficiently saturated with the
new Romance spirit. The Romanesque looked back to Rome and By-
zantium, the Gothic faced forward to the new world. The French
kingdom was born while Gothic architecture was being formed.
Until the beginning of the twelfth century the centres of Romanesque
art were in the neighbourhood of the lower Rhine and in Lombardy.
The most advanced piece of figure art wrought early in the twelfth
century is the noble bronze font now at Liège, the work of an artist of
Huy. This has completely shaken off barbarism, it is clear and sweet
in expression, the sort of thing we should like to call modern if modern
people could rise to it. A study of the bronze works at Hildesheim,
wrought under the direction of the great Bishop Bernward, shews that
the bronze workers of Huy derived their traditions from the artists of
Hildesheim, as those doubtless followed the men who worked for Charle-
magne at Aix two centuries earlier still.
At Hildesheim the doors
and the celebrated bronze column were made about the
1075. On
the square base of the latter are little figures of the four rivers of
Paradise. This may remind us of the bronze pine cone at Aix which
has the names of the rivers of Eden inscribed on its four sides. The
four rivers occur again on a most beautiful bronze font of the thirteenth
century in the cathedral. Again, on the bronze column there is a group
of people listening to Christ, which is plainly the prototype of another
year
CH. XXI.
## p. 560 (#606) ############################################
560
Architecture after Charlemagne
group on the Liège font. Thus the traditions of the bronze workers
were handed on to Dinant, which in turn inherited from Huy and
became the chief European centre for bronze working.
It is impossible here to give a separate account of the many
Romanesque schools of art, or even of architecture, which flourished
between the Carolingian Renaissance and the emergence of Gothic art
in the twelfth century. In Italy, Germany, and France there was
constant effort and practically continuous development towards one un-
foreseen end, the formation of the highly specialised type of art which
we call Gothic. All three countries contributed valuable ideas to the
commonwealth of art and continuously reacted on one another. The
master impulse in architecture was that by which the builders set them-
selves to explore the possibilities of vaulting and the interaction between
vaulting and planning. This may have been brought about in part by
the desire to guard against fire, but it was fed by the gradual spread of
Byzantine customs over the West.
In western Europe during the Carolingian age the churches were
planned in various forms. The central type of plan, varieties of which
are the circle, the polygon and the equal-armed cross, is represented by
the Palatine chapel at Aix-la-Chapelle. St Germigny, near Orleans,
is a square with apses projecting on every side. The large abbey church
of St Croix, Quimperlé, of the eleventh century, is circular with square
projections in the four directions.
Simple churches of this fashion were built in England. At Hexham
one of these was built by Wilfrid, and King Alfred built another at
Athelney. Several later Saxon churches had a big tower forming the
body of the structure with an apse opening from its east side and another
extension towards the west; such “tower churches" must have been simpli-
fications of the central type. The close association of the central tower,
the western version of the Byzantine dome, with the idea of the church has
not been fully worked out, but it led to a general insistence on the central
tower, or lantern, in Romanesque churches. Beneath these towers, at the
crossing of the central span and the transepts, the choirs were placed.
The monk Reginald, one of the Durham chroniclers, describes the
“White Church” (the cathedral) at Durham built by Bishop Aldhun in
1099 thus: “There were in the White Church, in which St Cuthbert had
first rested, two stone towers, as those who saw them have told us, standing
high into the air, the one containing the choir, the other standing at the
west end of the church, which was of wonderful size. They carried brazen
pinnacles set up on top, which aroused both the amazement of all men
and great admiration. ” The still earlier abbey church at Ramsey, built
about 970, was cruciform with a central tower, and at the west end a
smaller tower. Again, when in the description of the Confessor's church
at Westminster we are told that the domus principalis arae was of great
height, it possibly means the choir with the lantern tower, and that the
## p. 561 (#607) ############################################
Plans of churches
561
actual site of the altar in the apse of the eastern limb was considered as
attached to this dominating central feature. In some later Romanesque
churches in France, as at Issoire, Clermont, and elsewhere, parts of the
transept on either side of the lantern tower are lifted above the general
body of the work, thus adding to the importance of the central structure.
A central tower seems a more or less obvious arrangement, as a matter
of design, where it rises at the centre of a cruciform plan, and it has
sometimes been explained as a device for simplifying the intersection of
the roofs. Several Norman churches, however, like the one at Iffley,
have a tower rising over the choir of a long, simple, unaisled church, a
little to the east of the middle of its length. Here again the tower is as
typically the church as the hall is the house.
The central type of plan persisted also in palace chapels. Charle-
magne's chapel was repeated at the palace of Nimeguen near the mouth
of the Rhine. The palace of Goslar has a chapel with a plan resembling
that of St Germigny mentioned above. William of Malmesbury has a
curious note to the effect that a cathedral church built at Hereford at
the end of the eleventh century was copied from the church at Aix.
In the forest of Loches is a royal chapel, built in the reign of Henry II,
which is circular in form. At the palace of Woodstock was another cir-
cular chapel, and a Norman chapel at Ludlow castle, which still exists,
is also of this form. The English circular and polygonal chapter-houses
of cathedrals, of which that at Worcester is a Norman example, must
either have been adopted from such circular chapels or from the baptis-
teries of some of the old Saxon cathedrals. There seems to have been
such a baptistery at Canterbury, and we are told that it was used for
meetings as well as for its primary purpose.
The transepts of a church were an obvious means of enlarging the
interior space, and as they gave a symbolic form to the plan they became
normal parts of Romanesque structure. Sometimes they were of single
span, at others they had one or two aisles, and from their eastern sides
projected chapels, usually apses. Another type of Carolingian plan had
apses at both ends of the main span. A ninth century drawing for the
plan of the monastery at St Gall is of this form. And this arrangement
was for long a favourite one in Germany. It doubtless conformed to
ritual requirements. In England the Saxon cathedral at Canterbury
and the abbey church at Ramsbury were of this type.
A plan which persisted longer was one with three parallel apses at
the east end, the larger apse terminating the central space being Hanked
by two others at the end of the side aisles. This form of church early
became the usual one in Normandy. The abbey church at Bernay,
built c. 920, had transepts, and three parallel apses to the east. This
plan was again repeated in the great abbey church at Jumièges, which
was itself copied by Edward the Confessor for his fine new church in the
Norman manner, built at Westminster from about 1050. Some remnants
C. MED. H. VOL. III. CH, XXI.
36
## p. 562 (#608) ############################################
562
Galleries, porches and crypts
of it which still exist are enough to shew that the plan was a very accu-
rate copy of its prototype, so much so, that it appears that Norman
workmen must have been brought here to do it.
The same tradition
was followed at Durham, Lincoln, and many other important churches.
Both Westminster and Jumièges had vestibules and triforium storeys ;
these were old customary features which tended to disappear. Charle-
magne's church at Aix has a fine vaulted gallery over the aisle which
surrounds the central space: and we are told of the Confessor's church
at Westminster that there were, both above and below, chapels dedi-
cated to the saints. In such cases the triforium evidently fulfilled a
function. Later it became a mere formal survival, although the triforium
of the later church at Westminster was probably used for the great con-
gregations at coronations. Many of the German Romanesque churches
have structural galleries at the sides of the choir, and many Norman
churches had galleries at the ends of the transepts. At Canterbury,
Lincoln and Christ Church the transepts seem to have had upper storeys
over their whole extent, forming chapels. Vestibules mentioned above
must represent the narthex of Eastern churches. The church of St
Remi at Rheims had in the tenth century a vaulted work which occupied
nearly half the nave. Immense vaulted porches still exist at Vézelay,
St Benoît-sur-Loire and other places, and the tradition of a western
porch has left its mark on some of the English Romanesque churches, as
Ely and Lincoln. In Germany the western bay was usually carried up
higher than the nave roof between two western towers, making thus an
impressive west end externally.
Quite generally crypts were also constructed beneath the choirs of
Romanesque churches ; deriving from the early confessio beneath the
altar, they frequently became of great size. Often, in the German and
Lombard churches, they were but little buried in the ground, but the
eastern limbs of the churches were raised high above them, and
approached by many steps. This arrangement is often very dignified
and impressive. A great seven-branched candlestick usually stood in the
middle of the platform beyond the steps. Many of the German Roman-
esque churches had rounded ends to the transepts as well as to the
eastern limb, the crossing being thus surrounded by three apsidal projec-
tions. This is a well-known Byzantine type, and St Mary in the Capitol
at Cologne, is an early and noble example in the West; Tournai
cathedral is another. This form of plan was handed on to the early
Gothic of North France, at Noyon and Soissons, and it persisted long in
Germany. The thirteenth century church at Marburg has similar semi-
octagonal apses in three directions, a short nave, no longer than the
transepts, and a chapel at each of the four re-entering angles. It is prac-
tically a church of the central type, and is certainly a very beautiful plan.
Another very beautiful scheme of planning is found in a church at
Angers, which has a wide vaulted nave extended and supported by a
## p. 563 (#609) ############################################
Apses, towers and vaults
563
series of large apsidal recesses or chapels along each side. This type is
again followed at Orvieto cathedral.
The most perfect plan for a great church would seem to be that in
which the central eastern apse is surrounded by an ambulatory from
which small circular-ended chapels open out-one, three, four, five or
seven. This is the plan which was adopted in the main line of progress
into Gothic, and it continued to be used right through the Middle Ages.
This fine scheme probably dates from Carolingian days, and three
important churches, at Tours, Dijon and Le Mans, were built in this
form at the end of the tenth century. Churches of the same type were
built in England, first for the abbey of St Augustine, Canterbury, and
the cathedrals of Winchester and Gloucester, during the last quarter of
the eleventh century. An apse was an essential member of a great church
during the Romanesque period. In its centre the bishop had his throne
lifted high above the altar as ruler of the assembly; this broken rem-
nants at Norwich still shew. The planning of a great church implied the
dealing with several common factors which might be variously combined,
The nave might be one, or three, or five spans wide ; there might be a
transept of one, two, or three spans, and the eastern limb might have a
simple apse, or parallel apses, or an ambulatory and a series of radiating
chapels. The position of towers was another factor to be considered.
Their positions were partly, doubtless, a matter of choice, but largely they
were conditioned by structural requirements. A great single tower at
the west end, as at Ely, will stop the thrusts of the inner arcading as
well as the more usual pair of towers. In French churches towers were
frequently put at the transepts also, and Winchester cathedral seems to
have been intended to have transeptal towers. In Germany towers are
often seen on either side of the apse. At Tournai four towers built
around the crossing against the transepts support the central lantern,
making a most impressive group of five spire-capped towers. At Exeter
two massive towers stand over small square transepts. A third great
controlling factor in the design of churches was that of vaulting. The
possibilities of rearing vaults were explored in all sorts of ways. All
three spans might have barrel vaults, or those over the aisles might be
quadrants rising higher against the nave than where they fell on the
aisle walls. The bays might be vaulted transversely, a favourite device
in Burgundy, or they might be covered by a combination of longitudinal
and transverse vaults interpenetrating and forming“ groined” vaults.
This last became the standard form for the vaults of churches in north-
western Europe, and the tradition was carried forward into Gothic.
The use of this scheme allowed of high windows in every bay, and con-
centrated the thrusts at intervals above the piers of the inner arcades.
One school of French Romanesque experimented with a series of domes
covering square compartments, and the curious church at Loches has its
nave covered by stone pyramidal erections like low pitched spires. It
OH. XXI.
36-2
## p. 564 (#610) ############################################
564
Beginnings of Gothic
a
has hardly been realised how many of the greater “Norman” churches
in England were vaulted, especially their eastern limbs and transepts.
The eastern limb of the great abbey church of St Albans, begun about
ten years after the Conquest, was vaulted. Durham and Lincoln cathe-
drals were vaulted throughout, by the middle of the twelfth century.
The abbey churches of Gloucester, Pershore and Tewkesbury all seem to
have had vaulted choirs and transepts; so probably had Canterbury
cathedral, Winchester cathedral, St Paul's cathedral, Reading abbey
and Lewes priory churches and many others. Frequently the nave was
covered with a wooden ceiling while the eastern half of the church was
vaulted. At Peterborough such a ceiling, delightfully decorated with
bold pattern-work, still exists. This church and others had such ceilings
throughout. The “ glorious choir” at Canterbury had a specially famous
painted ceiling. It is noteworthy that even in quite small churches the
chancels were frequently covered with vaults, while the rest of the struc-
ture had wooden roofs.
Many modifications were made in the planning of great churches to
accommodate the vaults, and a remarkable contrivance became common
towards the end of the twelfth century for the purpose of supporting the
high central vaults. This was the flying buttress, a strong arch built in
the open air, rising from the lower walls of the aisles, and butting against
those of the clerestory. Such buttresses were greatly developed in
Gothic architecture, but their invention is due to Romanesque builders.
Another great invention, which was of primary importance for the
development of Gothic, seems to have been made towards the end of the
eleventh century. This was the method of erecting vaults by first
building a series of skeleton arches (ribs) diagonally across each bay,
and then covering this subdivided space with a lighter web of work. In
England the method was used at Durham, and this is the first well-
authenticated instance in the west of Europe. Other examples, which
are said to be earlier, are known in Italy.
The general movement, which was to pass over an invisible frontier
into what we call Gothic architecture, was characterised by a search for
more vigorous and clear solutions of structural problems, a gathering up
of the wall masses into piers and buttresses and the vaults into ribs.
The whole medieval process in architecture from, say, the time of
Charlemagne to the time of the Black Death, was an organic develop-
ment. One phase in the progress may be traced in the tendency to
break up piers and arches into a series of recessed orders or members;
that is, they widen by degrees in a step-like profile. This held the germ
of the change from a square pier set in the direction of the wall into one
placed diagonally. Such membering of arches and piers easily led to
sub-arching, that is, the including of two or more smaller arches under
a larger one; and this again was to lead up to the development of
tracery. The process also early shewed itself in a liking for alternation.
## p. 565 (#611) ############################################
Arches, cusps and glass
565
A nave arcade, for instance, was often planned with a more or less
square pier and then a column alternately. In some German churches
square piers alternately wider and narrower may be seen.
The pointed arch has been known from time immemorial. It was
generally adopted by Saracen builders from the seventh century, and it
became well known in the West from the eleventh. It proved especially
useful in adjusting the many difficulties which arose in applying vaulting
to compartments of various sizes and shapes. And further, it was used
as a strong structural form before it was generally admitted into the
architectural code. Thus, as ever, the aesthetic delight of one century
was found in the structural device of an earlier one.
The cusping of arches fell in with the general tendency toward sub-
ordination and grouping. The cusped arch had a distant origin in the
shell forms carved in the arched heads of the niches, which were common
in Hellenistic architecture. Byzantine and Arab builders simplified the
scalloped edge of this shell into a series of small lobes set within the
containing arch. Such cusped arches were passed on to the North-West
by the Moors. The special centre for their distribution seems to have
been the south-east of France, where the delight in cusped arches is very
noticeable at Clermont, Vienne and Le Puy. The forms of trefoiled
arches appear in the North as early as the tenth century in the ornaments
of illuminated books, and probably they were handed on in this pictorial
form long before they entered into real structures. Architecture and
sculpture often followed where painting led. Circular windows had been
used by the Romans and are frequently found in Romanesque work.
Both circular and quatrefoil openings were probably known in the West
from Carolingian days. The quatrefoil became popular as a form of
Ordinary windows, when grouped into pairs with a circle above,
formed the point of departure for the development of the traceried window.
From the early days of Christian art glazing of various colours
arranged in patterns had been used. Doubtless the beautifully patterned
casements of Arab art were, like so much else, taken over from the
Byzantine school. The jewelled lattices of Romance must have been
suggested by the use of coloured glass. At some time in the great
Carolingian era, which we are only now beginning to appreciate, painting
was added to the morsels of coloured glass, and they were joined together
by thin strips of lead rather than by some ruder means. These two steps
of development brought into being the stained glass window proper.
From th time windows were conceived as vast translucent enamels of
which the leads formed the divisions. The agreement of style between
the earliest known stained glass windows and Romanesque enamels is so
close that we may not doubt the near kindred of the two arts. The
earliest windows still extant, like those of St Denis (c. 1140-50), were
probably designed by some enameller.
For long the style of German Byzantine enamels may be traced in
cross.
OH. XXI.
## p. 566 (#612) ############################################
566
Imagery and Colour
the glass of Le Mans, Chartres, and Strasbourg, and for the most part
the code of imagery had been worked out by enamel-workers and
illuminators of books before it was adopted for stained glass.
There was a great expansion in the production of sculpture and its
application to architecture during the twelfth century, and an enormous
increase of power in dealing with it. Here again, however, all the great
types and traditions of treatment seem to have been invented or rather
developed by the Carolingian schools. For instance, there are two
delightful small impersonations of Land and Sea carved amongst the
early Gothic sculptures of the west front of Notre Dame at Paris.
Such impersonations derive directly from Romanesque ivories and
illuminated books of the German school and thence may be traced to
Alexandrian art. In the Carolingian age imagery had, for the most
.
part, been on a small scale, in metal-work and ivory, but some of it had
been of great beauty in conception and of masterly execution. By the
middle of the twelfth century several notable schools of architectural
sculpture had been developed in Italy, France, and Spain. In England
beginnings were made towards the development of what became a
special English tradition; the west front treated as a background for
an array of sculptured figures having reference to the Last Judgment.
Some remnants found at York and others extant at Lincoln are evidence
for this.
Sculpture, stained glass, and the large schemes of painting which
covered the interiors of Romanesque churches, were very largely inspired
by painted books. These illuminated volumes are almost the most
wonderful products of the whole Romanesque period. What the book
of Kells is to Irish art, and the Lindisfarne book to the Anglo-Celtic
school of Northumbria, is well known. Several superb Carolingian
volumes are just as remarkable, and this pre-eminence of the book was
sustained until the end of our period. Some hundred splendid books
and rolls written and painted in the twelfth century are marvels of
thoughtful invention and skilful manipulation. At this time types and
symbols were still dealt with in the great manner; many of the designers
at work seem to have had the imagination of Blake with ten times his
power of execution. For example, take the designs of an “Exultet "
roll in the British Museum; the first painting is Christ majestically
enthroned; then comes a group of rejoicing angels; then the interior
of a basilica shewn in section with nave and aisles and in the midst a
colossal Mater Ecclesia standing between groups of clergy and people ;
the next is Mother Earth, a woman's figure half emerging from the
ground, nourishing an ox and a dragon ; further on is the Crucifixion
with its “ type,” the passage of the Red Sea ; and near the end, after a
flower garden with bees, the Virgin and Holy Child. This appears to
be an Italian work of the middle of the twelfth century.
The artists of Charlemagne made use of mosaic in large schemes of
## p. 567 (#613) ############################################
Mosaics and painting
567
decoration. The vault, an octagonal dome in form, over the central
area of the palace chapel at Aix-la-Chapelle was covered by a simple but
splendid design of the sort which modern designers find it so hard to
imitate. The first rapture of all these things can never be recovered.
On a starry ground was set a great Figure of the throned Majesty, and
beneath were the twenty-four elders forming a band around the base of
the dome. The ancient church of St Germigny in France still has in
its apse a mosaic of rather crude workmanship but similar in ability of
design. Here two colossal cherubim with expanded wings guard the
ark of the New Covenant, and above in the centre is the Right Hand of
God. The floor of the chapel at Aix was also covered with coarse
mosaic, and mosaic floors were common in the Romanesque churches of
Germany, Lombardy and France. The mosaics of both walls and floors
in Italy are too many and too well known to require mention. In
France one or two floor mosaics still remain. The most perfect one is in
the church of Lescar in the south. This was laid down in 1115. Two
panels are preserved in the Cluny Museum of the beautiful mosaic floor
of the abbey church of St Denis (c. 1150).
The internal walls and ceilings of Romanesque churches were (by
custom) painted entirely with scriptural pictures and large single figures
of saints, all set out according to traditional modes of arrangement and
with schemes of teaching. In Germany several large churches retain, in
a more or less restored condition, an almost complete series of such
paintings. One of the most notable is the basilican church at Brunswick.
But the most striking of all is, probably, the church at Hildesheim,
where the flat boarded ceiling is entirely occupied by an enormous
Jesse-tree, the ramifying branches of which spread over the whole nave.
In Italy many painted churches of Romanesque date still exist, as, for
instance, the church of San Pietro a Grado near Pisa. In France the
church of St Savin has preserved its paintings most completely. Here,
and in the many traces of paintings in a Byzantine tradition which are
to be found on the walls and vaults of the cathedral of Le Puy, may be
seen sufficient evidence to suggest what the idea of interior architectural
painting was during the Romanesque epoch. A Romanesque church
was intended to be as fully adorned with paintings as was a Byzantine
church, and, indeed, the traditions of the two schools flowed very much
in a common stream from one source. It was the same in England, as is
shewn by fragments at Pickering, St Albans, Norwich, Ely, Romsey,
Canterbury, and other places. We probably think of our “Norman”
churches as rude and melancholy, but if we picture for ourselves all the
colour suggested by the fragmentary evidences which exist, and furnish
again by imagination the vistas of the interior with their great coronae
of lights, the gilded roods, and embossed altar-pieces, the astonishing
nature of these vast and splendid works will fill our minds with some-
what saddening reflections. Archaeology is no minister to pride.
CH, XXI.
## p. 568 (#614) ############################################
## p. 569 (#615) ############################################
569
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OF TITLES
OF PERIODICALS, SOCIETIES, ETC.
vol. 1.
(1) The following abbreviations are used for titles of periodicals :
AB. Analecta Bollandiana. Brussels.
AHR. American Historical Review. New York and London.
AKKR. Archiv für katholisches Kirchenrecht. Mayence.
AM. Annales du Midi. Toulouse.
AMur. Archivio Muratoriano. Rome.
Ang. Anglia. Zeitschrift für englische Philologie. Halle a. S. 1878 ff.
Arch. Ven. Archivio veneto. Venice, 1871-90, continued as Nuovo archivio veneto.
Venice. 1891 ff.
ASAK. Anzeiger für schweizerische Alterthumskunde. Zurich.
ASHF. Annuaire-Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de France. Paris.
ASI. Archivio storico italiano. Florence. Ser. 1. 20 v. and App. 9 v. 1842–53.
Index. 1857. Ser. nuova. 18 v. 1855–63. Ser. III. 26'v. 1865-77.
