In the preparation of the illustrations the works of Agincourt, Didron, Owen Jones, and the late Jethro A. Cossins, have been consulted for those of Plate I. Of the remaining, Plate II., Fig. 5, and Plate V., Fig. 1, are from works of Parker and Rickman respectively. Five details are from photographs; the remainder are from original sketches and studies by the Author.
IV. TRANSITIONAL, 1145-1190 (NORMAN TO EARLY ENGLISH) 35
The popular classification of English Gothic Architecture divides the style into four periods, thus:
Norman William I., 1066, to Richard I., 1189. Early English Richard I., 1189, to Edward I., 1272. Decorated Edward I., 1272, to Richard II., 1377. Perpendicular Richard II., 1377, to Edward VI., 1547.
These terms are useful, but not sufficiently descriptive. They were superseded by the late Edmund Sharpe’s “Seven Periods,” the terms of which are derived from the forms of the windows and their tracery, but are applicable to other details.
Saxon 1066. Norman 1066 to 1145. Transitional 1145 ” 1190. Lancet 1190 ” 1245. Geometrical 1245 ” 1315. Curvilinear 1315 ” 1360. Rectilinear 1360 ” 1550.
English Church Architecture of the Middle Ages
The term Gothic was applied originally as one of contempt in the fifteenth century by the architects of the Renaissance, who attempted to reproduce the ancient architecture of Rome, and considered Mediæval Art, which had ruled all departments of design throughout Europe during the three preceding centuries, to be no better than the invention of the Barbarians, the Goths, and the Vandals, who overran the Roman Empire in the fourth century. During the three previous centuries the persecuted converts to Christianity were driven to take refuge in any hiding-place available. In Rome they descended to the _Catacombs_, the underground workings of the ancient Roman stone quarries, consisting of narrow, low passages, their aggregate lengths amounting to hundreds of miles. There they quarried out of the rock their chambers for assembly, where they gathered for worship in the light of torches or lamps, and excavated recesses for the burial of their dead. These chambers were imitated in the form of the _Crypts_ (hidden chambers) existing under some churches and cathedrals. (Compare Plate I., Figs. 1 and 2.) The walls of the catacombs have rude incised inscriptions and carvings revealing the Christian Faith by symbols, such as the _cross_, suggesting the Crucifixion--the emblem of sacrifice; the _circle_, the line without end, the symbol of Eternity (Plate I., Fig. 3); the _triangle_, _trefoil_, and _triquetra_, symbols of the Trinity (Figs. 6, 7, and 8); the _quatrefoil_ of the four evangelists (Figs. 9 and 10). The _fish_ was adopted as a symbol of the Redeemer, because the letters of the Greek word _icthys_, when used as an acrostic, gave the initials of the words--Jesus, Christ, God, Son, Saviour (Plate I., Fig. 11). This symbol was extensively adopted in the decoration of baptismal fonts.