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English Church Architecture of the Middle Ages: An Elementary Handbook
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Byzantine and Early Christian
The term Gothic was applied originally as one of contempt in the fifteenth century by the architects of the Renaissance, who attempted to reproduce the ancient architecture of Rome, and considered Mediæval Art, which had ruled all departments of design throughout Europe during the three preceding centuries, to be no better than the invention of the Barbarians, the Goths, and the Vandals, who overran the Roman Empire in the fourth century. During the three previous centuries the persecuted converts to Christianity were driven to take refuge in any hiding-place available. In Rome they descended to the Catacombs, the underground workings of the ancient Roman stone quarries, consisting of narrow, low passages, their aggregate lengths amounting to hundreds of miles. There they quarried out of the rock their chambers for assembly, where they gathered for worship in the light of torches or lamps, and excavated recesses for the burial of their dead. These chambers were imitated in the form of the Crypts (hidden chambers) existing under some churches and cathedrals. (Compare Plate I., Figs. 1 and 2.) The walls of the catacombs have rude incised inscriptions and carvings revealing the Christian Faith by symbols, such as the cross, suggesting the Crucifixion--the emblem of sacrifice; the circle, the line without end, the symbol of Eternity (Plate I., Fig. 3); the triangle, trefoil, and triquetra, symbols of the Trinity (Figs. 6, 7, and 8); the quatrefoil of the four evangelists (Figs. 9 and 10). The fish was adopted as a symbol of the Redeemer, because the letters of the Greek word icthys, when used as an acrostic, gave the initials of the words--Jesus, Christ, God, Son, Saviour (Plate I., Fig. 11). This symbol was extensively adopted in the decoration of baptismal fonts.
The Vesica piscis (Latin, the bladder of a fish) (Plate I., Fig. 5) was used as a nimbus or glory to surround the figure of a sacred personage in sculpture and in painting. Its name shows the use of Latin terms in the Roman Church as distinguished from the Greek in Byzantium, which was an ancient Greek city adopted by Constantine, the Christian Emperor, as the capital of the eastern division of the Roman Empire under the new name of Constantinopolis--the modern Constantinople. But the term “Byzantine” has been retained in matters relating to art. Plate I., Figs. 15 and 16, show the Greek Cross, which is a version of the Greek letter chi combined with the letter rho (similar to the English P). This symbol represented the name Christ, and was the Christian standard, the Labarum, chosen by the Emperor Constantine.
Plate I., 3A. The sacred monogram generally found in church decoration stands for the Latin phrase _Jesus hominum Salvator_--“Jesus, the Saviour of men.” The Greek letters IHS (iota, eta, sigma) gave the first three letters of the name Jesus.
In the plan of an English cathedral or cruciform church, the symbol of the Latin Cross is made the basis of its form (Plate XI., Fig. 1). (The Byzantine or Greek Cross has the four limbs of equal length.) The Nave, N. (Latin, navis, a ship, a symbol of the Church), is built from west to east. The Choir or Chancel, which is screened off by a Cancellum or lattice, is in continuation of the Nave to the east end. This in some cathedrals includes the Lady Chapel, which was in mediæval times dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
In several churches and some cathedrals the head of the Cross, the Chancel or Choir, is not in line with the Nave, but is slightly inclined to one side--not in all cases the same side. Two explanations are given for this, one being its _orientation_--_i.e._, the axis of its length points to the rising of the sun on the day of its foundation, which does not coincide with that of the Nave, the Chancel having been commenced at an earlier or later date and different season of the year. The other theory is that it symbolises the head of Christ falling on one side in death.
Plate I., Fig. 14 (from the “Grammar of Ornament”), shows an ornamental design composed entirely of early Christian symbols. Plate I., Figs. 12 and 13, carved ornament and a capital bearing crude resemblance to an ancient Ionic capital. Both Figs. 12 and 13 are under the influence of Greek and Roman Art without reference to symbolism.
Plate I., Fig. 4, shows a chevron (a French military ornament), a decoration dating back to ancient Egypt, where it symbolised the waves of the Nile, and was adopted in many later periods, and became conspicuous in the Norman arches of English architecture.
Anglo-saxon
There can be no doubt that Christianity found its way into Britain early during the Roman occupation, but was suppressed through the violent persecutions by the Pagan tribes who ruled following the Roman departure A.D. 410, to be revived and further developed after the mission of St. Augustine, A.D. 597, from Rome to the Anglo-Saxons, who occupied Britain between the fifth and eleventh centuries.
The church of Greenstead, in Essex, is one of the most ancient in the country, and was built by Anglo-Saxons. Its walls are of substantial logs of timber placed upright upon a foundation of rude stonework. This method appears to be a survival of their method of building their dwellings.
Of stone buildings, the church tower of Barton-on-Humber (Plate II., Fig. 6) is a good example of Anglo-Saxon work. In it the external angles of the tower and of the door and window openings have their quoins (corner stones) of “long-and-short” work, the name applied to Saxon masonry of this kind, in which long stones are placed on end with short stones laid flat, suggesting their origin to be the work of carpenters who would place timbers in such positions, contrasted with that of masons, who would place all stones horizontally or at right-angles to pressure.
In this example and the very fine one at Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, this “long-and-short” work is carried over the exterior of the wall as a kind of surface decoration.
Plate II., Fig. 3, shows the present-day manner of framing timbers in a partition with sill (s.), posts or studs (p.), lintel (l.), inclined struts, and corbel-blocks (c.b.).
Saxon timber framing would be on similar lines, and this manner was perpetuated traditionally in their stone walls. The practice of imitating woodwork in stone and vice versa is one to be found in the works of all ages from remote antiquity. The heads of Saxon door and window openings were either semicircular (Plate II., Figs. 7, 8, and 9) or formed by placing two stones inclined to each other thus--ʌ, and a short column or rude baluster was sometimes placed between two windows.
[_Note._--The window over the clock face (Plate II., Fig. 6) is an insertion of a later period.]
The interesting little church at Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, shows the same manner of building (Plate II., Fig. 1).
Anglo-Saxon bell-towers appear to have been generally covered with a roof of the form shown in Plate II., Fig. 5, as at Sompting, Sussex.
Norman, 1066-1189
The Norman period dates from A.D. 1066, though the Norman manner of building had been adopted after the year 1000, when church building was revived after suspension in anticipation of the Millennium, which was expected to bring the end of the world. That dreaded year having safely passed, church building was vigorously revived. Timber construction had led to frequent disaster by fire, and as larger buildings were now required, better construction became imperative. Masonry must supersede carpentry in wall construction, and the necessary skilled labour came from Normandy.
The influx of superior talent following the Norman Conquest resulted in great improvement in every department of building. Stately cathedrals were founded, each for the reception of the cathedra or throne of the bishop. Abbeys and monasteries and parish churches for the clergy were built throughout the land, as proved by the existence of Norman work in most parts of the country.
Every period of English Gothic architecture has certain forms appearing in the general composition and details which help to fix the period to which they belong. In the Norman the square and the circle, the right angle and the semicircle, are the prevailing figures suggestive of strength and severity so evident in the impressive naves of Ely, Peterborough, Norwich, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, and the fortress-like cathedral of Durham.
Plate III. gives a few details of work of the Norman period. The term pier (Plate III., Fig. 1) defines the pillars or masses of masonry supporting the arches between the nave and aisles of a church. This example (Plate III., Fig. 1), from St. John’s Chapel in the White Tower of London, William the Conqueror’s residence, is circular with a square capital chamfered down to the circular pier, and has a slightly moulded abacus (the crowning moulding of a capital).
Plate III., Fig. 2, the cushion capital, is the simplest kind of Norman capital. It is cubical, with its square faces rounded down to the shaft.
[_Note._--The shafts of all English Gothic columns are cylindrical--_i.e._, without any diminution towards the top, in contrast with Greek and Roman shafts, which are always diminished.]
Plate III., Fig. 3, is the capital of a _respond_--a half-column attached to a wall and carrying an arch or part of a roof.
Plate III., Fig. 4, the corbel-table, or cornice underneath the eaves of a roof (_corbel_--a bracket).
Plate III., Fig. 5, the base of a pier with spur ornaments.
Plate III., Fig. 6, fragment of a Norman arch of four orders, each order being a separate arch, three of which are enriched with the Norman chevron. The dripstone or hood-moulding (d.s.) encloses the arch as in Plate III., Fig. 8, though its original function--to protect the moulding under it from weather--is not needed here, but it is generally introduced to give effective finish to the arch. The capitals in this group are scallop capitals. A small portion of a similar capital is shown at the right hand of Plate III., Fig. 3.
Plate III., Fig. 7, is a Norman font of the simple bowl form enriched with carved Norman heads connected by Byzantine ornament and surrounded with a Norman arcade of intersecting arches--a feature often introduced in the walls of churches and cathedrals.
Plate III., Fig. 8, is a double-recessed window with an arch of three orders. The columns in the positions shown are called jamb-shafts or nook-shafts; those on the right are detached and may be removed, leaving the bases and capitals remaining. On the left the shafts are _engaged_--_i.e._, form part of the masonry of the wall. These two varieties are never found together as here, but are thus shown for convenience. The capitals are a variety of the cushion capital.
Plate III., Fig. 9, is a cushion capital with the triquetra symbol of the Trinity (Plate I., Fig. 8).
Byzantine influence is evident in the ornament of the capitals (Plate III., Figs. 1, 3, and 9), in the chevron (Plate III., Fig. 6), and the decoration of the font (Plate III., Fig. 7).
Norman walls depended for their strength upon their thickness, with the slight addition at intervals, where lateral pressure occurred, of thin pilaster-like buttresses projecting only a few inches equally from bottom to top.
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