88. CHURCH OF LANGRUNE (CALVADOS). STEEPLE
In other provinces, notably Picardy, Champagne, Burgundy, and the Ile-de-France, lantern towers were superseded by timber flèches cased in lead, which rose at the intersection of the roofs of nave and transepts.
Among the most remarkable towers of the twelfth century in the Northern provinces we may mention those of Tracy-le-Val (Oise), of the Abbey Church of the Ste. Trinité at Vendôme, and of Bayeux; those of the Abbaye-aux-Hommes at Caen; the old tower of the Cathedral of Chartres, and that of St. Eusèbe at Auxerre.
In the thirteenth century the height and decorative richness of these structures had increased to an extraordinary degree. The tower of Senlis (Fig. 86) is a most elegant example of the first years of a century which witnessed the birth of so many marvels of architecture.
In Burgundy several remarkable towers were built by the monks of Cluny, who were free from the asceticism introduced by St. Bernard among their brethren of Citeaux. The most notable of their structures are perhaps the towers of the Church of St. Père, near Vézelay, built about 1240.
In the South various original developments in Gothic architecture were logically brought about by a judicious use of the materials of the country, such as brick. Most interesting examples of such development are to be found in the tower of the Jacobin Church at Toulouse, which dates from the close of the thirteenth century, and the donjon tower of Albi, the characteristics of which we have already discussed.
89. CHURCH OF THE JACOBINS AT TOULOUSE. TOWER
Examples of isolated towers are hardly to be found of later date than the thirteenth century. Bordeaux perhaps offers an exception. But the general usage after this period was to include the towers in the composition of the façade; their actual functions as belfries became apparent only above the level of the vaults. A beautiful example of this treatment may be studied in the noble composition of Notre Dame de Paris.