Naves without Side Aisles
More important by far, are the churches without side aisles but with naves in square bays with four part cross-ribbed vaults. This method is to be seen in the cathedral of Fréjus (Var),[158] which is considered by Porter[159] to exhibit the earliest extant ribbed nave vaults in France. These are distinctly of Lombard type, and would seem to show a strong Lombard influence entering France from the south. It may possibly be that this same influence followed the route taken earlier by the dome on pendentives, and thus gave rise to the domed up ribbed vault so common in the churches of Anjou.[160] Of these latter, the cathedral of Saint Maurice at Angers (Maine-et-Loire) [(Fig. 19)], presents perhaps the best existing example. Its nave vaults which date from as early as 1150[161] are among the largest and finest in France, having a span of some fifty-six feet. As in Lombardy, the crown is highly domed up while to facilitate the construction of the web of the vault with the least possible centering, pointed diagonals and enclosing arches are employed. By this means the entire vault was constructed on the ribs with no centering at all for the lower courses, and a simple cerce, a device consisting of two curved boards sliding along each other, for those near the crown. At the same time the outward thrusts were greatly reduced by the pointed section of the vault.