In France these forms were also tried; but it was found that the semi-circle is not a good form of arch unless loaded on the haunches, many of the churches which were vaulted in this manner during the 11th e. having to be buttressed or rebuilt in the 12th and 13th centuries. In the s. of France (where the Byzantine influence had been strongly felt through the commerce), the pointed trinnel-vault had been long in use, and had superseded the semicircular tunnel-vault probably as early as the 9th or 10th century. This f6rm of arch was thus probably suggested to the architects of the n. of France, who at once saw how well it would overcome the difficulty of the yielding of the haunches in the semi-circular arch. They were thus led to the adoption of the pointed form for their transverse arches as a structural expedient, and still retained the semi-circular form in the groins. The next question which engaged attention, and the solution of which led to the further use of the pointed arch, was the vaulting of oblong spaces. This had been tried with semi-circular arches, but it was found that in this way the vault would require to be very much domed—the diameter of the side arches being so much smaller than of the transverse—whereas by using pointed arches, of dif ferent radii, for the transverse and side arches all might be kept to 'about the same height (figs. 2 and 3). This is more fully explained by fig. 2. If AB lie the diameter of the transverse arch, and AC that of the side arches, it is clear that the semi-circular side arch ADC cannot reach the height of the transverse arch AEB, even when stilted as at D'. But in the pointed arch, CEB, the same diameter rises to very nearly the height of the transverse arch. The pointed arches ACB and A'CB' (fig. 3) show how easily arches of this form, whatever their diameter, can be built of the same height. By the introduction of this new form of arch the vaulting•asstrengthened, and the thrust brought to bear steadily mi single points. We have thus traced the history of vaulting from the time of the Romans to the 12th e., when the principles of Gothic pointed vaulting were fully developed; and we have dwelt particularly on this subject, because it includes the principles which regulated the whole of the Gothic style. Gothic was not the invention of an individual, but a necessary growth—a gradual development from structural require ment. This is clearly the case with regard to the vaulting, as we have traced it above, and the same might be proved regarding every member of the style. Thus it might be shown how the ribs gradually more decided, expressing the part they bore in the support of the roof; how the nave piers (q.v.) were gradually subdivided into parts, each shaft bearing on a separate cap a separate portion of the vaulting; how the buttresses were developed as they were required to resist the thrust of the groins concentrated on points; and how the flying buttresses were forced upon the Gothic architects much against their will, as a mode of supporting the arches of the roof. .
The history of the latter is very curious. The thrust of the tunnel-vault was some times resisted by half tunnel-vaults over the side-aisles. These, therefore,. required to be high, and a gallery was usually introduced. In the Narthex at Vezelay We have this gallery with the-vaulting used as a counterpoise to that of the nave. This is a fine example of vaulting in the transition state, the vaulting of the gallery resists the main vault, and is at the same time groined. This leaves rather a weak paint opposite the transverse arches, and to strengthen these, flying buttresses are introduced, which timidly shqw themselves above the roof. The galleries were, in later examples, dis
pensecL with to admit of larger clerestory windows, 'and the flying-buttresses were left standing free. The architects finding them indispensable, then turned their attention to render them ornamental: Pinnacles may also he shoWn to owe their origin to their use: they acted as weights to steady the buttresses and piers. We shall, under their separate heads, point out how each element of GOthic architecture was in the strictest Univ-Calif - Digitized by Microsoft 0 sense constructional, the decoration being in harmony with its actual use, or as Pugin has said, " decorated construction not constructed decoration." The full development of Gothic yaultiug, which was the forerunner of the whole style; was first carried out in the royal domain France about the: middle of the 12th century. The Normans had settled in the n. of France more than a century before this, and had applied their talents and the fruit of their conquests to the building of splendid temples in honor of their victories. In doing so, they followed out the round-arched style; and brought it forward by a great stride towards true Gothic. See NORMAK ARCHITECTURE: South of the royal domain, in Burgundy, there had existed for centuries great estab lishments of monks, famous for their architecture. The abbey of Cluny was their cen tral seat, whence they sent out colonies, and built abbeys after the model of the parent one. The style in which they worked was also an advanced Romanesque, but different from that of the Normans.
Between these two provinces lay the royal domain. Owing to the weak state of the kingdom, architecture had hitherto made little progress in the isle of Fiance. About the beginning of the 12th c. the monarchy revived, and for the next two centuries was governed by wise and powerful monarchs, who succeeded in re-establishing the royal supremacy. A new impulse was thus given to the literature and arts of the country, by which architecture profited largely. Front the state of ruin into which the kingdom bad fallen, there were almost no churches existing worthy of the new state of things. New and great designs were formed: hitherto, almost all the important churches of France were abbey churches; now, under the royal patronage, cathedrals were to be built. The bishops, envious of the power of the monks, lent their poWerful aid, and the whole of the laity joined heartily in the work. • With such a universal impulse, no wonder that architecture took a great stride, and new forms were introduced. It is •to this period and people that we owe the development of the true or pointed 9othic style.
At Vezelay the Burgundian monks had nearly approached to the Gothic. To com plete the development, it only required the side-walls and vaulting of the nave to be raised,. so as to admit of windows over the roofs of the side-galleries; and the flying buttresses to be raised with them, so as to receive the thrust of the vault—the latter being constructed with pointed groin ribs, and the side and transverse arches carried to the height of the groins. The laic architects of the royal domain some accomplished this step, and the new style sprung up and progressed with the most astonishing rapidity.
The earliest example we have tf the fully developed Gothicstyle is the cathedral of St. Denis, in which are deposited the remains of the, kings of France, It was founded by the abbe Suger in 1144. The cathedral of Notre Dame of Paris soon followed, and almost contemporary with it arose the magnificent cathedrals of Chartres, Rheims, Amiens, Beauvais, Bourges, and a host of others.