The art of bridge-building revived in France earlier than elsewhere, except Italy, and as early as the latter part of the Eleventh Century the great rivers were spanned at Lyons, Tours, Orleans, Vienne, and other large cities. It was considered as pious an undertaking to build a bridge as a church, and worthy of the granting of indulgences. When a shepherd-mason. built (1177-80 ) the famous Avignon Bridge. nearly 3000 feet long, he founded an association of fratres pontifices, or bridge-building brother hood. The clergy, the monasteries, and the com munes all joined in such constructions. Those in the smith of France were especially magnifi cent; such as those of Saint-Esprit (1265-1309), of Btziers (Thirteenth Century), and of Montau ban (1303-16), with a tower at each end, the Pont at Cahors, with three towers, one in the middle, and the bridge of Orthez, where there is only a central tower. The social condi tions of the Middle Ages made this fortification of the bridges a necessity. Germany was far be hind France in bridge construction and fortifica tion. Still it possessed some monumental and early examples, the finest being that over the Danube at Ratisbon (1135) with 15 round arches (34 to 53 feet span), followed by that over the Elbe at Dresden (1179-1200) with 24 arches ( 40 05 feet span). Spain has some famous mediaeval bridges, especially at Zamora, Toledo, and Tu dela. with from 15 to 20 pointed arches, and others at Placeneia (1187) and Logrofio (1138). In England, the great London Bridge (1176-1209), with its nine pointed arches of about 60 feet span, was built by an architect sent from France. This bridge had a covered gallery and was flanked with a double line of booths and shops and became one of the busiest marts of the city. This was often the case with the medlieval bridges erected in the heart of a city, and not necessarily fortified. The famous Pmite Veeehio in Florence (1362) is the best preserved instance of this custom. It Was the same with the covered bridge at and the Bialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venire (1588). Italy appears to have been sat isfied with wooden bridges until the Thirteenth Century, with few exceptions, and to have lagged far behind northern Europe and the Orient in this respect, though large wooden bridges were in use in France as late as the Fifteenth Century.
Aside from the Santa-Trinith Bridge at Flor ence, the stone bridges at Massa and Sigma are among the finest in Tuscany, and the 'Ponte del Diavolo' near Elwell is one of the boldest. The Renaissance returned to the round-arched style and imitated the Roman bridges, as at Vicenza and Pisa. Among smaller bridges, the 'Bridge of Sighs' at Venice (close of Sixteenth Century), connecting the Ducal Palace and the prisons, is the most famous. Such high-bridged passages were frequent in Italian cities and very pictur esque. The work of the Brothers of the Bridge and their priestly successors carried the history of bridge-building up to about 1700, by which time such improvements had come to be regarded as the work of the Government.
During the Eighteenth Century a large num ber of important stone-arch bridges were built in Europe. among which may be mentioned the Bla•kfriars, Westminster, Winston, and Kelso bridges in England. and the Blois. Trilport, Tours, Neuilly. and Gignac bridges in France. In all respects the work of the famous department of Punts et ChaussOes in France led the world in arch-bridge construction during the Eighteenth Century. The Blackfriars Bridge across the river Thames was begun in 1760 and completed in 1770. It consists of nine elliptical arches, the middle one being 100 feet, and the others de creasing gradually to 9S feet. 93 feet, 83 feet, and 70 feet. The Westminster Bridge was begun in 173S and completed in 1750; it consists of fifteen Century was the so-called Pont-y-Tu-Prydd, over the river Taff in Wales, which was built by Wil liam Edwards, an ordinary stone-mason, in 1750, after two failures. The bridge, as finally completed, has a segmental arch span of 140 feet with a rise of 35 feet. A curious feature of this bridge is that its breadth increases from 1• feet 5 inches at the crown of the arch to about 16 feet at the abutments.