Books Recommended: As before, Hübsch and Reber. Bond, Gothic Architecture in England. Also Brandon, Analysis of Gothic Architecture. Boisserée, Nieder Rhein. Ditchfield, The Cathedrals of England. Hasak, Die romanische und die gotische Baukunst (in Handbuch d. Arch.). Lübke, Die Mittelalterliche Kunst in Westfalen. Möller, Denkmäler der deutschen Baukunst. Puttrich, Baukunst des Mittelalters in Sachsen. Rickman, An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of Architecture. Scott, English Church Architecture. Van Rensselaer, English Cathedrals.
MEDIÆVAL GERMANY. Architecture developed less rapidly and symmetrically in Germany than in France, notwithstanding the strong centralized government of the empire. The early churches were of wood, and the substitution of stone for wood proceeded slowly. During the Carolingian epoch (800–919), however, a few important buildings were erected, embodying Byzantine and classic traditions. Among these the most notable was the Minster or palatine chapel of Charlemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle, an obvious imitation of San Vitale at Ravenna. It consisted of an octagonal domed hall surrounded by a vaulted aisle in two stories, but without the eight niches of the Ravenna plan. It was preceded by a porch flanked by turrets. The Byzantine type thus introduced was repeated in later churches, as in the Nuns’ Choir at Essen (947) and at Ottmarsheim (1050). In the great monastery at Fulda a basilica with transepts and with an apsidal choir at either end was built in 803. These choirs were raised above the level of the nave, to admit of crypts beneath them, as in many Lombard churches; a practice which, with the reduplication of the choir and apse just mentioned, became very common in German Romanesque architecture.
EARLY CHURCHES. It was in Saxony that this architecture first entered upon a truly national development. The early churches of this province and of Hildesheim (where architecture flourished under the favor of the bishops, as elsewhere under the royal influence) were of basilican plan and destitute of vaulting, except in the crypts. They were built with massive piers, sometimes rectangular, sometimes clustered, the two kinds often alternating in the same nave. Short columns were, however, sometimes used instead of piers, either alone, as at Paulinzelle and Limburg-on-the-Hardt (1024–39), or alternating with piers, as at Hecklingen, Gernrode (958–1050), and St. Godehard at Hildesheim (1133). A triple eastern apse, with apsidal chapels projecting eastward from the transepts, were common elements in the plans, and a second apse, choir, and crypt at the west end were not infrequent. Externally the most striking feature was the association of two, four, or even six square or circular towers with the mass of the church, and the elevation of square or polygonal turrets or cupolas over the crossing. These adjuncts gave a very picturesque aspect to edifices otherwise somewhat wanting in artistic interest.
FIG. 99.—PLAN OF MINSTER AT WORMS.
RHENISH CHURCHES. It was in the Rhine provinces that vaulting was first applied to the naves of German churches, nearly a half century after its general adoption in France. Cologne possesses an interesting trio of churches in which the Byzantine dome on squinches or on pendentives, with three apses or niches opening into the central area, was associated with a long three aisled nave (St. Mary-in-the-Capitol, begun in 9th century; Great St. Martin’s, 1150–70; Apostles’ Church, 1160–99: the naves vaulted later). The double chapel at Schwarz-Rheindorf, near Bonn (1151), also has the crossing covered by a dome on pendentives.
FIG. 100.—ONE BAY OF CATHEDRAL AT SPIRES.