GERMANY. It is difficult to find a consistent character in German Gothic. It never became a national style as in France and England. The Romanesque style had had so superb a develop ment in Germany that it was difficult to intro duce a new style, and not until long after Eng land and Spain, not until French Gothic had reached its fullest expression in France, did it find a foothold. The cathedral at Limburg copies Noyon, and is still plain and heavy (1235). The Liebfrauenkirche at Trews (1227), a copy of the French Church of Baione, is the first purely Gothic church. It was natural that the Rhine lands should first adopt the new style. not only from its proximity. but because it excelled other provinces artistically. Saint Elisabeth at Mar burg is an early example of the Gothic hall church, with nave and aisles of equal height, a German peculiarity exemplified later at Nurem berg (Saint Sebald) and Breslau (Kreuzkirche). The supremacy of the Rhineland is emphasized in the second half of the thirteenth century in three great churches; the cathedrals of Stress burg, of Freiburg, and of Cologne, where French influence is almost unmixed with German pe culiarities. The true proportions of the inte riors, the true constructive functions of the parts, are given better than in any English build ings, except Westminster ; purest of all is the choir of Cologne (finished 1320), built long be fore the nave. In these Rhenish cathedrals there is a superb wealth of figured sculpture, which at Strassburg equals the finest French work. This school also produced most exquisite stone tracery, different from anything of the kind else where, embodied in the facade and spire of Strassburg and the spire at Freiburg, like deli cate lace openwork. The cathedral of Halber
stadt and the abbey churches of Altenberg and Xanten belong to the same style. The great cathedrals influenced a multitude of construction, especially throughout the Rhineland, and led to the formation of a German version of Gothic, much less pure, much less artistic, but interesting as a national expression. The Franciscans and Dominicans were active. Local schools grew up, as in the Upper Rhine (Oppenheim), in Swabia, and Bavaria. The guilds of architects sent out masters from the main lodges. With the middle of the fourteenth century the territory occupied by Gothic architecture had immensely increased. Nuremberg had become a great centre (Saint Laurence; Saint Sebald; Frauenkirche). Great cathedrals were undertaken at Regensburg and at Ulm; also in Austria (Saint Stephen, Vi enna). Although great pains were taken with the decorative work, it was decidedly lacking in artistic quality. The decorative ribs are not so pleasing as the English; the foliage-work on capitals, friezes, etc., is stiff and unnatural; the proportions are not happy. One of the least happy phases was the brick architecture of the north in the Baltic provinces and North Prussia, though interesting for marked peculiarities. Con sult the authorities referred to under ROMAN ESQUE ART; also Moore, Gothic Architecture, Its Development and Character (London, 1899) ; Dehio and Beezold, Die kirchliche Baukunst des Abenlandes (Stuttgart, 1892-1901) ; Ltibke, Ec clesiastical Art in Germany During the Middle Ages, translated by Wheatley (Edinburgh, 1870).