CHAPTER XII

THE ROMANESQUE, OR CORRUPTED ROMAN.

THE great characteristic of the Architecture of the Romans, was the combination of the arch and vault, with the Grecian column. A prevalent form of their later buildings was the high vaulted hall, long and comparatively narrow, on each side of which were cells or chambers, communicating with the great hall and with each other, by arched openings or doorways. Upon this general plan are arranged the great halls of the Baths of Caracalla, and Diocletian, and the Basilica or Halls of Justice. When Christianity was established by Constantine throughout the Roman Empire, these spacious halls were used as places of worship; many ancient buildings were repaired and adapted to this purpose, and subsequently, when new churches were built, the same general plan was followed. The principal entrance was at the west end, and the east end was of a circular form; the breadth was divided into three or four aisles, and upon the co

lumns, arches were erected, to receive an upper wall, which supports a roof. An addition was subsequently made of the transept, which completed the groundplan of a Christian church, in the form of the Latin cross.

The great church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, was erected under the Emperor Justinian,

FIG. 21.

Choir.

Transept.

Nave.

about A. D. 637. Here was a mixture of the Grecian and Roman Architecture, with new inventions, to which the unskilfulness of the architects gave rise. The dome fell twice in a few months after it was built, and when it was rebuilt, huge buttresses were constructed to sustain the weight. Many columns which had ornamented ancient edifices, were placed in the new church of St. Sophia, and an immense number of arches were raised in rows, one above another, to support various parts of the ill-constructed building. As Christianity spread to the remotest regions of the Empire, ecclesiastical edifices were everywhere erected; the rage for building churches in a short time became general and excessive. Rome being at the head of the Church of the West, very naturally prescribed the mode of building, as well as the form of worship.

All countries, in adopting a neighbouring style of building, have been obliged to accommodate it to some peculiarities of their local situation, such as climate,

soil, and building materials. Thus, while adopting the Roman style, the architecture of every European country was distinguished by peculiar and characteristic features of its own. To the style which was formed in this way, and was an intermediate or transition state between the old Roman and pointed or Gothic style, the name "Romanesque" in English, and "Romane" in French, has been given by some writers of authority, though it may not yet have been generally adopted. The foregoing remarks will sufficiently show the propriety of the term, but the style is also known as the Lombard or Lombardic.

One of its most characteristic features, is the compound semicircular arch.

THE ROMANESQUE IN ENGLAND,

COMMONLY CALLED THE SAXON AND THE NORMAN.

The Christian religion was early introduced into England; it has indeed been claimed, on strong circumstantial evidence, that the foundation of the Church was there laid by St. Paul himself. Be that as it may, when Christianity was first introduced into that island, she came in the train of Roman art, and Roman power, and when, her first footsteps being nearly effaced, she once more appeared, it was again from Rome that she

came.

The Saxons landed on the island of Great Britain in a state of barbarism. Having subdued the ancient in