GREAT BRITAIN. When, at the close of the twelfth century, Gothic began to replace Norman architecture in England it did not correspond as in France to any great national movement, like the rise of free communes and of episcopal power. The Anglo-Normans had contented them selves with wooden roofs, and so had not at tempted to work out any vaulting system. Even the Cistercian monks, so fond of vaulting, did not attempt to introduce it in their English estab lishments. The introduction came through the work of an architect from the Ile-de-France, Wil liam of Sens, who rebuilt the choir of Canter bury Cathedral in 1175, followed by Trinity Chapel. Toward 1190 comes the first great work of the real Anglo-Norman Gothic, the choir and transept of Lincoln Cathedral. Unlike most early Gothic churches in England, it has con temporary vaulting. At this time there was no unity of style. Most of the great monastic churches, like Fountains, Kirkstall, Byland, Whitby, Rievanlx, are not vaulted, and use the shafts and moldings connected with vaulting purely as decorative features. The nave of Lin coln and the Cathedral of Salisbury (1220) fol low one another early in the thirteenth century. What is called the Early English (q.v.) or Lan cet style is now formed, lasting until 1280. This was followed by the Decorated or Geometric style (1280-1380) and by the Perpendicular style (1380 to sixteenth century). (See Articles on thew subjects.) After one last and most per fect reproduction of the French style in the interior of Westminster Abbey (1245-69), the national peculiarities were accentuated. France had been relatively unproductive after the thir teenth century, but England built as many fine Gothic monuments in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth as in the thirteenth. York, Ely, Wells, Lichfield, Canterbury, Winchester are among the most notable cathedrals. Viewed from the standpoint of scientific embodiment of Gothic principles, these English cathedrals depart woe fully from pure French standards. Neither do we usually find unity of style in the same building. Norman churches often have Late Gothic vault ing. But, barring these defects, this group of English buildings is worthier to stand beside the French masterpieces than any other group in Europe. There are some marked peculiarities, The plan is very long and narrow, and the vault ing low; thus Amiens is 521 feet long and 140 feet high inside, while Ely is 565 feet long and only 75 feet high. The width of the English
churches is but little more than half of the French. Besides, the choir end is square instead of polygonal, there is often a double transept at the east end, and the prevailing moldings are horizontal. All this gives a totally different effect to an English interior, which does not ' soar like the French. The exterior composition is also very different. The little Central French lantern is turned into a superb lofty tower, either square, as at Canterbury, York, Ely, Lincoln, or with a spire, as at Salisbury (424 feet high), Lichfield, and Chichester. No classic design for facades was followed, as in France, but every variety was indulged in, from the immense and picturesque screens at Lincoln and Peterborough to the more rational but commonplace facades of Lichfield and Wells. There is nothing to cor respond to the broad portals and wealth of figured sculpture of France. But the great projection of the towers, the length of the body, the group ing of subordinate buildings, such as chapter houses, cloisters, and chapels, and the picturesque surroundings give great effectiveness. Another marked peculiarity is the use of vaulting-ribs not purely for constructive, but for decorative purposes. Beginning by cutting up the vaulting surfaces into small compartments by diverging and cross ribs supplementing the original pair (lierne or star vaults), the next development was the famous fan-vaulting (q.v.) in which a great number of ribs diverge from separate cen tres and meet at apices. This is carried to its extreme in the Chapel of Henry VII. at West minster.• The most elegant examples of this style are in the polygonal chapter-houses of Lincoln, Westminster, Salisbury, and Wells, which are among the most charming creations of English Gothic. Toward the close of the Gothic period the English created a type of semi-ecclesiastical, academic, and civil architecture that is best ex emplified at Oxford and Cambridge, and in many castles and halls of the English nobility. Con sult: Prior, A History of Gothic Art in England (London, 1900) ; Van Rensselaer, English Cathedrals (New York, 1892) ; and the authori ties referred to under ROMANESQUE ART; EARLY ENGLISH STYLE; DECORATED STYLE; PERPENDICU LAR STYLE.