Robert the Pious enabled Morard the abbot of St Ger main des Prez to rebuild the church of his convent on a larger scale. St Genevieve was also restored, and a cloister added ; he also made preparations to build a cathedral at Paris on a magnificent scale. Many reli gious structures were benefited by his encouragement.
The cathedral of Chartres was one of the greatest works of this age. It was said to have been completed by its bishop Fulbert, who died 1028. Its length was 420 feet, breadth 108 ; the nave 48 feet wide, with side aisles 181 feet wide, and 42 feet high ; on each side the choir the aisles are double, and the transept, which is 210 feet long, contains aisles. There are seven chapels in the Chevet, and the crypt and lower church are very re gular : This seems the first instance of regular and mag nificent arrangement in France. Some reckon it to have been completed by T h er ri or Theodoric in 1048. The northern part was built afterwards by Jean Cormier, phy sician to the king.
The church of St Remi at Rheims was founded by the abbot Hermez, and consecrated in 1049 by Leo IX. and the new cathedral of Scoz was completed (1050) under Azon a monk.
The abbey of Clugny, the largest ecclesiastical monu ment in France, was erected about this time. The abbot Odilo collected various marble columns by means of the Rhine ; and Duromer, it is said, constructed a cloister. The present church was probably begun by the same prelate, but the chief part was built by Hugh his succes sor, about 1069. It was consecrated in 1169 by Innocent II.; the length 620 feet. It has two transepts, the upper one is 200 feet, the lower 120 feet in length.
The style of the 1 1 th century was the same as that of the preceding, but the works were upon a larger scale. With a few exceptions, the oldest buildings now existing in France may be traced to this xra, i. e. St Germaine des Prez, St Benigne at Dijon, Chartres, La Charite upon the Loire, and Clugny.
Barbarous imitations of the Gothic continued all over Europe. with some difference in features. Saxon church es in Engialid were inferior in magnitude to the Norman, and the latter differed from those near Paris and in the south of Europe. The Norman churches, though long. er, were rude, and had less skill in sculpture than the French artists, who had improved by imitating the Ro man works.
The abbey of St Stephen, raised by William the Con queror at Caen, and that of the Holy Trinity, founded in the same city, by his queen Matilda, are the chief exam ples of the Norman introduced into England.
The Crusades began to rouse mankind, and light was brought from the East. During the 12th century the pointed arch made its appearance in the French edifices, and, in a short time, the Roman or Lombard style was dis continued. Amongst the earliest instances, was that at St Denis, begun by abbot Suguin, in 1137. About the same time the monastery of the Knights Templars at Pa ris bore marks of the Gothic ; the tower was built by Huber, treasurer of the order, who died 1222. In 1177, Stephen the abbot determined to rebuild St Genevieve, which he completed before he was made bishop of Tour nay in 1192. About this time, Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, began to build the eastern part of the cathedral of Notre Dame, but it was not completed for two centuries afterwards. The choir of the cathedral of Lyons seems of this period, and the collegiate church St Nicholas at Amiens, was begun about 1192, and the portal finished in 1200.
At the beginning of this century the old Lombard mode was practised ; towards the middle this was mixed with pointed arches ; and, before the end of the century, the ancient heavy style was every where discontinued, and the new unmixed Gothic adopted.
In the thirteenth century, ecclesiastical architecture reached its greatest perfection in France in 1212. Ingol ramne was employed by abbot Richard to rebuild the ab bey church of Bec in Normandy ; he was succeeded by Waultier de Meulan, who finished it ; but it was burnt and restored under Pierre de Caniba, about 1273. Rheims cathedral began to display the new style, and at Lyons the body of the cathedral was completed. The cathedral of Amiens, the pride of Gothic architecture, was erected by Robert de Lusarches, Thomas de Carmont, and his son Reynault. Notre Dame was carried on by Jean de Cholles ; and Pierre de Mentereau was employed on the chapel and refectory of St Germaine des Prez, and Saint Chapelle, at Paris. Eudes de Montreuil was celebrated for his scientific skill and bold conceptions ; he accom panied St Louis to the East, and on his return was employ ed in the churches of St Catherine de Val des Ecoliers, St Croix de la Bretonnierre les Quinze-Vingts, the White Monks, the Mathurins, the Carthusians, the Cordeliers, and the Hotel Dieu, at Paris ; likewise the Notre Dame at Mantes ; he died 1289. The vaulting of the roof in the latter astonished Lauflet and Gabriel for its boldness ; the height from the pavement being 96 feet.