At San Miniato, near Florence, there still stands a very fine basilica of the beginning of the eleventh century, which shews one method in which this was attempted to be done, and which recalls the mode of construction of the Syrian Churches above referred to.
San Miniato is divided into three long bays in its length by circular stone arches, springing from clustered piers, thrown across the nave, each bay being again subdivided by three longitudinal archivolts resting on simple pillars.
The above great transverse arches do not, as in the Syrian examples, carry the roof, which is in this instance of wood, and is thus not quite fireproof; but even if the timbers were destroyed by fire, the three transverse arches would tend to bind the structure all together, and prevent further ruin.
FIG. 33. SAN MINIATO.
In the church of Notre Dame du Pré at Le Mans in the north-west of France, there is another example of a similar form of roof, constructed in the middle of the eleventh century.
In Provence the system of vaulting generally adopted was of a more complete character, derived in all probability, as already mentioned, from the Roman system (as used in the Nymphæum at Nimes), and perhaps also aided by the examples of the vaulted churches seen by the Crusaders in Syria. When the revival of the eleventh century took place, the Provençal churches were usually erected on the basilican plan, which doubtless was the traditional one. These churches are small, but they generally embrace a central nave with two side aisles, each terminated to the eastward with an apse. The roof is almost invariably composed of a pointed barrel or tunnel vault, with strengthening transverse ribs springing from the caps of pilasters carried up from the nave piers, as for instance in St Trophime at Arles.
The side aisles are also arched, each with one half of a pointed vault thrown against the upper part of the nave wall, so as to abut the central vault. The roof consists of tiles laid directly on the extrados of the arches, after the Roman manner, so that there is here nothing liable to suffer from fire. There is, however, it will be noticed, one remarkable divergence from the Roman model, in which the vaults and arches are always round. In Provence they are invariably pointed. This form of vault, as mentioned by Mérimée, Fergusson, and others, was adopted, not from choice but as a necessity, or at least a convenience of construction. The pointed form was found to have several advantages over the round. It was easier of construction, a matter of great consequence in those rude times; it exerted less thrust on the side walls, and was therefore more stable; and it fitted better the slope of the tiled roof covering.