FIG. 132.—CLOISTERS, SALISBURY CATHEDRAL (SHOWING UPPER PART OF CHAPTER-HOUSE).
WINDOWS AND TRACERY. In the Early English Period (1200–1280 or 1300) the windows were tall and narrow (lancet windows), and generally grouped by twos and threes, though sometimes four and even five are seen together (as the “Five Sisters” in the N. transept of York). In the nave of Salisbury and the retro-choir of Ely the side aisles are lighted by coupled windows and the clearstory by triple windows, the central one higher than the others—a surviving Norman practice. Plate-tracery was, as in France, an intermediate step leading to the development of bar-tracery (see [Fig. 110]). The English followed here the same reasoning as the French. At first the openings constituted the design, the intervening stonework being of secondary importance. Later the forms of the openings were subordinated to the pattern of the stone framework of bars, arches, circles, and cusps. Bar-tracery of this description prevailed in England through the greater part of the Decorated Period (1280–1380), and somewhat resembled the contemporary French geometric tracery, though more varied and less rigidly constructive in design. An early example of this tracery occurs in the cloisters of Salisbury (Fig. 132); others in the clearstories of the choirs of Lichfield, Lincoln, and Ely, the nave of York, and the chapter-houses mentioned above, where, indeed, it seems to have received its earliest development. After the middle of the fourteenth century lines of double curvature were introduced, producing what is called flowing tracery, somewhat resembling the French flamboyant, though earlier in date ([Fig. 111]). Examples of this style are found in Wells, in the side aisles and triforium of the choir of Ely, and in the S. transept rose-window of Lincoln.
FIG. 133.—PERPENDICULAR TRACERY, WEST WINDOW OF ST. GEORGE’S, WINDSOR.
THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE. Flowing tracery was, however, a transitional phase of design, and was soon superseded by Perpendicular tracery, in which the mullions were carried through to the top of the arch and intersected by horizontal transoms. This formed a very rigid and mechanically correct system of stone framing, but lacked the grace and charm of the two preceding periods. The earliest examples are seen in the work of Edington and of Wykeham in the reconstructed cathedral of Winchester (1360–1394), where the tracery was thus made to harmonize with the accentuated and multiplied vertical lines of the interior design. It was at this late date that the English seem first to have fully appropriated the Gothic ideas of emphasized vertical elements and wall surfaces reduced to a minimum. The development of fan-vaulting had led to the adoption of a new form of arch, the four-centred or Tudor arch (Fig. 133), to fit under the depressed apex of the vault. The whole design internally and externally was thenceforward controlled by the form of the vaulting and of the openings. The windows were made of enormous size, especially at the east end of the choir, which was square in nearly all English churches, and in the west windows over the entrance. These windows had already reached, in the Decorated Period, an enormous size, as at York; in the Perpendicular Period the two ends of the church were as nearly as possible converted into walls of glass. The East Window of Gloucester reaches the prodigious dimensions of 38 by 72 feet. The most complete examples of the Perpendicular tracery and of the style in general are the three chapels already mentioned ([p. 223]); those, namely, of King’s College at Cambridge, of St. George at Windsor, and of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey.
CONSTRUCTIVE DESIGN. The most striking peculiarity of English Gothic design was its studious avoidance of temerity or venturesomeness in construction. Both the height and width of the nave were kept within very moderate bounds, and the supports were never reduced to extreme slenderness. While much impressiveness of effect was undoubtedly lost thereby, there was some gain in freedom of design, and there was less obtrusion of constructive elements in the exterior composition. The flying-buttress became a feature of minor importance where the clearstory was kept low, as in most English churches. In many cases the flying arches were hidden under the aisle roofs. The English cathedrals and larger churches are long and low, depending for effect mainly upon the projecting masses of their transepts, the imposing square central towers which commonly crown the crossing, and the grouping of the main structure with chapter-houses, cloisters, and Lady-chapels.
FIG. 134.—WEST FRONT, LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL.