CHAPTER VI
CHURCHES AND CATHEDRALS OF THE TWELFTH AND THIRTEENTH CENTURIES
The study of mediæval architecture is one of the most fascinating of pursuits, but it is one beset with difficulties. The obscurity in which the origin of our great monuments is buried is profound and often impenetrable.
A fertile cause of error is the confusion which in many cases has arisen between the dates of foundation and of consecration. Very often a church was built and afterwards considerably modified, rather than actually reconstructed, on the same consecrated site.
Lightning was the most frequent cause of the destruction, total or partial, of mediæval churches. Striking the steeple, the tower, or the roof, it fired the timber superstructure of the nave. This in itself would not have been an irreparable disaster; but as the timbers gave way the calcined beams charred the piers, and so prepared the downfall of the whole building, which was then either restored or reconstructed in the fashion of the day. Hence, whether we base our deductions upon more or less trustworthy records or upon contemporary readings of existing data, the result is too often a confusion among vanished monuments, or a contradiction between the buildings as they now exist and the historic records which relate to them.
32. CATHEDRAL OF LAON. PLAN
33. CATHEDRAL OF LAON. INTERIOR OF THE NAVE