Through the great energy displayed the number of edifices erected is enormously large, and so many of them now exist that volumes would be needed for their description; we can, therefore, only find space to follow the development of the style in a few of its grand monuments—namely, the great cathedrals—and along with them to describe a few smaller struc tures which, since they were completed within a short space of time, are more characteristic than the larger ones, and give a more harmoniously complete image of the architecture of their period.
St. Etienne at choir of the Cathedral of St. Etienne at Auxerre was rebuilt in 1245-123o. The well-preserved early Romanesque crypt, with its semicircular arch, surrounding aisle, and square chapel at the extremity, determined the ground-plan; so that, with the exception of the radiating crown of chapels which in the French works before described was shown to be characteristic, it is the product of a definite external cause. Extreme elegance, exemplified in the employment of entirely detached shafts of extraordinary slenderness, characterizes this structure, at the same time a certain tenuity of the members makes evident the endeavor to obtain lightness of appearance not only by construction, but also by masking the supporting materials and using more delicate mouldings.
The ornamentation which was called in to aid in giving an appear ance of still greater lightness to the supporting members, as in the case of the slender columns which bore the springing of the vaults and sepa rated the square chapels from the surrounding aisles, abandoned the bosses and knobs which adorned so delicately the blocks of the capitals, the cornices, and the vertical mouldings in the earlier monuments, and in their place substituted copies of natural foliage. "The idea of supporting the springing of the vaulting by great horizontal corbels bedded in the outer buttresses, with their anterior angles supported only by a slender monolithic shaft upon the interior, had led to brilliant results in Notre Dame at Dijon, and throughout a long period it became more and more prominent. In St. Etienne at Auxerre it is employed in a most thorough manner. The flying-buttresses of the church at Auxerre are without that massive masonry above the arches to be found in earlier examples, but have instead a series of small columns united by arches and supporting a stone channel for the conveyance of the water from the roof of the central aisle.
Church at same constructive idea is apparent in the small church at Rieux, near INIontmirail, in Champagne; yet here—partly in consequence of local traditions, and partly through the nature of the building-material—it is not carried out so consistently as in the preyi ously-named church of the same period. In the church at Rieux the anterior supports of the springing of the vault consist of clustered columns which have a proportionally larger mass than the internal supports of the previously-mentioned church. In the church at Rieux there are between each pair of buttresses two narrow pointed windows with a round window above them, the whole, through the extreme reduction of the masses separating them, forming one great window, ?\-hich fills up the entire space below the exterior ribs of the vaulting. This combination of three windows in one is the commencement of what is known as tracery, which plays so great a part in the development of the Gothic style. In the choir of the church at Auxerre the individual importance of each opening is more apparent.
The Cathedral of Notre Dame at Coutances was also rebuilt at the coin \ mencement of the thirteenth century. It has a three-aisled nave, a one aisled transept with massive pillars at the intersection, and a five-aisled choir with a surrounding of chapels. The massiveness of the pillars at the intersection makes it probable that a central tower was projected, but never completed. The west façade has two massive towers with stone spires, and displays three portals, the lateral ones leading through the towers into the side-aisles. The two great porches which adjoin the towers on the northern and southern sides of the cathedral 'are very peculiar.
.:Voire Dame at Le 1220 the old choir of the Cathedral of Notre Dame at Le Mans was demolished and the present beautiful choir added to the existing Romanesque nave. Two aisles, the inner one the higher, extended around the choir, and the apse and chevet reach their fullest development, since the chapels are large and project so far that they stand free from one another. The charming details, in which strength and delicacy, order and a fanciful abandon, are united, render this choir one of the most perfect works of the Gothic period.