DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6914#0076
44
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
they came. These they contrived of a round form, because they would not imitate
the Christian figure of a cross, nor the old Greek manner, which they thought to
be idolatrous, and for that reason all sculpture became offensive to them. They
then fell into a new mode of their own invention. The quarries of great marble by
which the vanquished nations of Syria, Egypt, and all the East had been supplied,
for columns, architraves, and great stones, were now deserted ; the Saracens, there-
fore, were necessitated to accommodate their architecture to such materials, whether
marble or freestone, as every country readily afforded. They thought columns and
heavy cornices impertinent, and might be omitted ; and affecting the round form
for mosques, they elevated cupolas, in some instances, with grace enough. The
Holy War gave the Christians, who had been there, an idea of the Saracen works,
which were afterwards, by them, imitated in the West; and they refined upon it
every day, as they proceeded in building churches."39
The same eminent architect attributed the general direction of ecclesiastical
buildings to the free-masons ; who, he says, formed a fraternity of architects, and
procured papal bulls with peculiar privileges. He bestows praise on these artists
for the skill they showed in the erection of such lofty structures; and seems to
consider the characteristics of the Pointed style as having originated from the
custom of raising towers and spires to a great height, and using small stones in
their construction. In refutation of the opinions of Sir C. Wren and his followers,
that the Pointed style was borrowed from the Saracens, Dr. Milner asserts that
the crusaders did not bring with them into England or Europe a single feature
of that style, " since the churches built subsequent to that period, as for example
the antient parts of Exeter and Rochester Cathedrals, and the Abbey Church of
Reading, &c, do not, in their original works, exhibit one of these features."40
Gundulph, a monk of Bee Abbey, afterwards Bishop of Rochester, was the most
celebrated practical architect of the age in which he lived. He made a journey
of devotion to the Holy Land, a little before the first crusade; and of course had
an opportunity of surveying its buildings ; yet, in the various structures erected by
him after his return, we discover no traits of the style under consideration.4' And
from the descriptions and engravings of the most accurate and intelligent travellers,
such as Pococke, Norden, Shaw, Le Bruyn, &c. who have visited the Holy Land
3> "Parentalia," 1750, folio, p. 306. 40 " Treatise on Ecclesiastical Architecture," p. 55.
*' Id. p. 56. from Vita Gundulphi. Ang. Sacra, vol. i. 336, &c.
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
they came. These they contrived of a round form, because they would not imitate
the Christian figure of a cross, nor the old Greek manner, which they thought to
be idolatrous, and for that reason all sculpture became offensive to them. They
then fell into a new mode of their own invention. The quarries of great marble by
which the vanquished nations of Syria, Egypt, and all the East had been supplied,
for columns, architraves, and great stones, were now deserted ; the Saracens, there-
fore, were necessitated to accommodate their architecture to such materials, whether
marble or freestone, as every country readily afforded. They thought columns and
heavy cornices impertinent, and might be omitted ; and affecting the round form
for mosques, they elevated cupolas, in some instances, with grace enough. The
Holy War gave the Christians, who had been there, an idea of the Saracen works,
which were afterwards, by them, imitated in the West; and they refined upon it
every day, as they proceeded in building churches."39
The same eminent architect attributed the general direction of ecclesiastical
buildings to the free-masons ; who, he says, formed a fraternity of architects, and
procured papal bulls with peculiar privileges. He bestows praise on these artists
for the skill they showed in the erection of such lofty structures; and seems to
consider the characteristics of the Pointed style as having originated from the
custom of raising towers and spires to a great height, and using small stones in
their construction. In refutation of the opinions of Sir C. Wren and his followers,
that the Pointed style was borrowed from the Saracens, Dr. Milner asserts that
the crusaders did not bring with them into England or Europe a single feature
of that style, " since the churches built subsequent to that period, as for example
the antient parts of Exeter and Rochester Cathedrals, and the Abbey Church of
Reading, &c, do not, in their original works, exhibit one of these features."40
Gundulph, a monk of Bee Abbey, afterwards Bishop of Rochester, was the most
celebrated practical architect of the age in which he lived. He made a journey
of devotion to the Holy Land, a little before the first crusade; and of course had
an opportunity of surveying its buildings ; yet, in the various structures erected by
him after his return, we discover no traits of the style under consideration.4' And
from the descriptions and engravings of the most accurate and intelligent travellers,
such as Pococke, Norden, Shaw, Le Bruyn, &c. who have visited the Holy Land
3> "Parentalia," 1750, folio, p. 306. 40 " Treatise on Ecclesiastical Architecture," p. 55.
*' Id. p. 56. from Vita Gundulphi. Ang. Sacra, vol. i. 336, &c.