Early Gothic architecture
Early Gothic is the term for the first period of Gothic architecture which lasted from about 1120 until about 1200. The early Gothic builders used innovative technologies to resolve the problem of masonry ceilings which were too heavy for the traditional arched barrel vault. The solutions to the problem came in the form of the rib vault, where thin stone ribs passed the weight of the ceiling to rows of columns and outside the walls to another innovation, the flying buttress.
Gothic appeared in the Île-de-France region of France, around Paris, and spread quickly to other regions, and to England and Germany. It combined several existing technologies, notably the rib vault, pointed arch, flying buttress, to build much higher and thinner walls, which allowed more space for stained glass windows and more light in the interior.
Early examples of Early Gothic include the east end, chapels and ambulatory of the Abbey of Saint Denis in Paris,. The style soon spread from the Paris region to other parts of France, and then to England. Notable examples of early English Gothic include the Trinity Chapel of Canterbury Cathedral, built under the supervision of William of Sens, who had worked on Sens Cathedral, an early example of early French Gothic architecture.
History
Early Gothic architecture was the result of the emergence in the 12th century of a powerful French state centered in the Île-de-France. King Louis VI of France, had succeeded, after a long struggle, in bringing the barons of northern France under his control, and successfully defended his domain against attacks by the English king, Henry I of England. Under Louis and his successors, cathedrals were the most visible symbol of the unity of the French church and state. During the reign of Louis VI of France, Paris was the principal residence of the kings of France. During the Carolingian era, Reims Cathedral was the place of coronation, and the Abbey of Saint-Denis became the ceremonial royal burial place. The king and his successors lavishly supported the construction and enlargement of abbeys and cathedrals.The Abbot of Saint-Denis, Suger, was not only a prominent religious figure but also first minister to Louis VI and Louis VII. He oversaw the royal administration when the king was absent on the Crusades. He commissioned the reconstruction of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, making it the first and most influential example of the new style in France.
Innovations
Early Gothic architecture was the solution that the first Gothic builders found to resolve the problem of the earlier Romanesque style; masonry ceilings which were too heavy for the traditional arched barrel vault. The solution to the problem came in the form of the Gothic rib vault, where thin stone ribs spread the weight of the ceiling outward and downwards to flying buttresses.Another important innovation of the High Gothic was a change in the interior elevations. As thinner walls were made possible by buttresses, intermediate levels, such as the triforium were gradually made smaller. or eliminated. After 1194, the builders of Chartres Cathedral entirely removed the tribune, making more space for stained glass.
Stained glass windows were an important feature of early Gothic architecture, and they were significantly larger than those in earlier periods. Their purpose was to fill the church interior with a mystical coloured light, representing the Holy Spirit, and to illustrate Bible stores for the majority of parishioners who could not read. The windows were necessarily small, because, before the invention of the stone ribs of bar tracery, the windows were held together only with thin strips of iron.
Classification of periods
In the classification of architecture periods, Early Gothic raises certain issues.Early Gothic is defined as a style that used some principle elements of Gothic, but not all. Especially, it had no fine tracery. It marks the first phase of a division of Gothic style into three periods. If it is used for all countries, it has to be regarded that there may be special terms for the styles of single countries, such as Early English in England.
In France, where Gothic style began, another phasing has been established:
- Gothique primitif or Gothique premier, from short before 1140 until short after 1180, marked by tribunes above the aisles of basilicas.
- Gothique classique, from the 1180s to the first third of 13th century, marked by basilicas without lateral tribunes and with triforia without windows. Some buildings of this phase, like Chartres Cathedral, have to be subsumed to Early Gothic, others, like the Reims Cathedral and the western parts of Amiens Cathedral, have to be subsumed to High Gothic.
- Gothique rayonnant, from the second third of 13th century to the first half of 14th century, marked by triforia with windows and a general preference for stained glass instead of stone walls. It forms the greater portion of High Gothic.
- Gothique flamboyant, since mid 14th century, marked by swinging and flaming forms of tracery.
Primary Gothic appeared in northern France in the 130s. In Normandy, it was mixed with regional traditions. In England, it gave the example for Early English architecture. It combined and developed several key elements from earlier styles, particularly from Romanesque architecture, including the rib vault, flying buttress, and the pointed arch, and used them in innovative ways to create structures, particularly Gothic cathedrals and churches, of exceptional height and grandeur, filled with light from stained glass windows. Notable examples of early Gothic architecture in France include the ambulatory and facade of Saint-Denis Basilica; Sens Cathedral ; Laon Cathedral; Senlis Cathedral; and most famously Notre-Dame de Paris.
Early English Gothic was influenced by the French style, particularly in the new choir of Canterbury Cathedral, but soon developed its own particular characteristics, particularly an emphasis for length over height, and more complex and asymmetric floor plans, square rather than rounded east ends, and polychrome decoration, using Purbeck marble. Major examples are the nave and west front of Wells Cathedral, the choir of Lincoln Cathedral, and the early portions of Salisbury Cathedral.
Early Gothic was succeeded in the early 13th century by a new wave of larger and taller buildings, with further technical innovations, in a style later known as High Gothic.
Early French Gothic cathedrals
Basilica of Saint-Denis
The Basilica of Saint-Denis was important because it was the burial place of the French Kings of the Capetian dynasty from the late 10th until the early 14th century. It attracted a very large number of pilgrims, attracted by the relics of Saint Denis, the patron saint of Paris. To accommodate the large number of pilgrims, Suger first constructed a new narthex and façade at the west end, with twin towers and a rose window in the centre.The most original and influential step made by Suger was the creation of the chevet, or east end, with radiating chapels. Here he used the pointed arch and rib vault in a new way, replacing the thick dividing walls with arched rib vaults poised on columns with sculpted capitals. Suger wrote that the new chevet was "ennobled by the beauty of length and width." And "the midst of the edifice was suddenly raised aloft by twelve columns". He added that, when creating this feature, he was inspired by the ancient Roman columns he had seen in the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian and elsewhere in Rome. He described the finished work as "a circular string of chapels, by virtue of which the whole church would shine with the wonderful and uninterrupted light of most luminous windows, pervading the interior beauty."
Suger was an admirer of the doctrines of the early Christian philosopher John Scotus Eriugena and Dionysus, or the Pseudo-Areopagite, who taught that light was a divine manifestation, and that all things were "material lights", reflecting the infinite light of God himself. Therefore, stained glass became a way to create a glowing, unworldly light ideal for religious reflection.
According to Suger, every aspect of the new apse architecture had a symbolic meaning. The twelve columns separating the chapels, he wrote, represented the twelve Apostles, while the twelve columns of the side aisles represented the minor prophets of the Old Testament.
The Basilica, including the upper parts of the choir and the apse, were extensively modified into the Rayonnant style in the 1230s, but the original early Gothic ambulatory and chapels can still be seen.
Sens Cathedral
The construction of the choir and ambulatory of Sens Cathedral began before the construction of the ambulatory of Saint-Denis. Therefore, the ambulatory is rather Romanesque than Gothic. All adjacent chapels are much later and no more Primary Gothic. But its arcades and triforia already fit the criteria of Gothic architecture. It was constructed between 1135 and 1164. Different from the other cathedrals of Primary Gothic, it has no tribunes above the aisles, but triforia as one of three levels, alike some Romanesque basilicas before and Classic Gothic afterwards. It used the new six-part rib vault in the nave, giving the church exceptional width and height. Because the six-part vaults distributed the weight unevenly, the vaults were supported by alternating massive square piers and more slender round columns. It had a wide impact on the Gothic style not only in France, but also in England, because its master builder, William of Sens, was invited to England and introduced Early Gothic features to the reconstructed choir of Canterbury Cathedral.In the following centuries, all clerestories were remodelled, and the transept is Flamboyant.