How to Study Architecture by Charles H. Caffin (reading the story of the .TXT) 📖

ENGLISH ROMANESQUE DETAIL

Romanesque is the term applied to the architectural style of the early Middle Ages which prevailed from 1000 to 1200. It manifests considerable variety, according to locality, but at the same time a distinct character common to all branches, in that it embodied a return to certain Roman principles of construction, modified more or less by early Christian and Byzantine methods. It represents a stage in the evolution of Gothic architecture.

In such localities as the North of Italy and Provence, where Roman remains were plentiful, the Romanesque architecture made free use of antique columns and details. But in the Rhine Provinces, the North of France, and England, the lack of such materials and of skilful workmen encouraged the substitution of the pier for the column and caused the latter to be of simpler and in many cases ruder design. Necessity, in fact, compelled the adoption of new forms. Moreover, the desire of the Church to build permanently led to the use of stone in place of inflammable timber, especially in the building of the roofs. Accordingly, the use of vaulting was revived.

It was out of the application of these necessities of construction that the Romanesque style was evolved.

Chevêt.—The basilica plan became gradually modified. The nave and aisles were retained, but the chancel, with or without an apse, was carried farther back and the length of the transepts prolonged, so that in time the cruciform plan prevailed and acquired a symbolic significance. A special feature, gradually introduced, was the chevêt which formed an ambulatory around the sides of the choir and the semi-circle of the apse, and could be divided up into chapels dedicated to individual saints.

Vaulting.—In the earlier examples the nave was covered with a barrel-vault, the thrust of which was sustained in the first place by strengthening the nave walls by the omission of clerestory windows and, secondly, by the weight of barrel-vaults over the side aisles, their thrust, in turn, being sustained by thickening the outer walls and keeping the windows small. As a further reinforcement of the walls, projecting piers of masonry were built into them, which in time became features of the external decoration.

Gradually the barrel-vault was superseded by groin vaults; at first in the aisles and later over the nave as well. The groin vaulting over the aisles represented, as in Roman times, the intersection of two semicircular vaults. But since the nave was usually twice the width of the aisles, each of the nave bays would be oblong in plan. Accordingly two of these were included in one square bay, which took in two of the nave arches and corresponded to two aisle bays.

In some instances a shaft was carried up from the intervening pier on each side of the nave, supporting an intermediate transverse arch, so that the vaulting became sexpartite, or divided into six compartments. Whether the bay were six part or four part, the curve of all the groins—longitudinal, transverse, and diagonal—were semicircular. Accordingly, since the diagonals had a longer diameter, their curves rose above the others. This variation was met by giving a concave or domelike surface to each of the compartments, so that the workmen were able to adjust the stones to the differences of the curves.

Rib-vaulting.—While this was possible in the actual operation of placing the stones, it would have needed exceedingly delicate calculation to build timber centering adjusted in advance to these domelike surfaces. Moreover, the ponderousness of the dome nave vaulting had made the use of timber centering extremely costly, even where timber was plentiful; while in districts sparsely supplied the cost had been prohibitive. Consequently, the ingenuity of the builders devised a system of construction that reduced the need of timber centering to a minimum. This was the system known as rib-vaulting. Briefly, it consisted in spanning the space—longitudinally, transversely, and diagonally—with preliminary arches of masonry, thus forming a skeleton frame composed of what are known as ribs. Each of these ribs, being comparatively light, could be constructed on a single moveable and expansible piece of centering, called a cerce. When the ribs had set, they offered sufficient support to hold up the doming of the compartments while it was being laid.

To some extent this method of construction had been anticipated by the Romans who in certain instances built preliminary transverse ribs to act as permanent centerings of the vault, in the masonry of which the ribs were buried from sight. The reintroduction of this device and its further development, as above described, originated with the Lombard architects. This has been definitely determined by the English architect, Arthur Kingsley Porter, who has proved that the adoption of the system was prompted by the scarcity of wood in this locality. From Italy it spread to France, where it made its appearance in the Ile de France about 1100 or some 60 years after its adoption in Lombardy. It was at first employed purely as a necessary constructive expedient. Later its æsthetic possibilities came to be recognised, and the rib was developed by the Gothic architects into an element of great beauty, one of the characteristic features of the Gothic style.

Meanwhile, the use of vaulting by the Romanesque architects affected the character of the exterior. Mention has already been made of the masonry piers and the massive outside walls, pierced with small windows. For the further support of the vaulting-thrust towers were freely used. While in Italy the campanile was frequently detached from the main edifice, the towers in western and northern Romanesque churches became elements of prominence in the design. A pair frequently flanked the apse or four rose in the angles of the transepts and choir, while another pair, sometimes connected by a gallery, flanked the west end. A tower or dome might also surmount the crossing